UOC returns to 4YFN with eight entrepreneurial projects

The Universitat Oberta de Catalunya (UOC) will be participating once again in 4 Years From Now (4YFN), the start-ups fair at the World Mobile Conference (MWC). The university has participated in 4YFN since its launch in 2015. This year it will be represented by eight business innovation projects which are supported by the UOC through its Hubbik entrepreneurship platform. From 26 to 29 February, they will be present at the event at Fira de Barcelona Gran Via, which brings together hundreds of start-ups and thousands of experts from the sector.

"The UOC has an established strategy for fostering entrepreneurship in the university community. 4YFN at the MWC is an unmissable opportunity for the university's entrepreneurial projects to build contacts and attract investors, with our support, at one of the top international technology forums. Our stand also enables those attending the event to see for themselves the UOC's commitment to entrepreneurship and to contact us to develop partnerships or consult our experts," explained Professor Xavier Vilajosana, Vice Rector for Research, Knowledge Transfer and Entrepreneurship.

These are the eight UOC projects – one spin-off and seven start-ups – that will be at stand 8.1C24 waiting to meet attendees at the 4YFN event.

Aimentia: AI for mental health care

Although one person in four will suffer from a mental health disorder during their lifetime and, according to the WHO, it is one of the principal causes of absence from work, it remains one of the greatest taboos. With the aim of improving diagnoses and prompt intervention, the start-up Aimentia has developed a platform that exploits the potential of artificial intelligence to speed up the identification of mental health crises, individualize diagnostics and monitor therapies provided to sufferers of anxiety, depression, phobias, bipolar disorders or suicidal feelings. In 2020 the start-up received the Ramon Molinas Foundation award for social impact and was the winner of the SpinUOC audience award.

The tool, which now has thousands of users in Spain, Argentina, Mexico and Chile and is used in over 170 institutions in Catalonia, will be showcased to the sector at 4YFN. "For us, taking part in this event under the UOC umbrella is a strategic opportunity. The UOC and the Hubbik team have given us vital support and we are delighted to join forces with the UOC to showcase our work as part of 4YFN," said Aimentia CEO Edgar Jorba, who is studying for an Executive MBA at the UOC. "We hope to use this platform to increase Aimenta's visibility, strengthen our network of contacts and establish new synergies to help us grow," he added.

AutisMIND Vídeos: a platform to promote the social inclusion of people with autism

The interactive videos and therapeutic activities developed by AutisMIND Vídeos led to it being the SpinUOC 2022 audience award winner. This is the second year running that the start-up has taken part in 4YFN with the UOC. AutisMIND Vídeos has collected together numerous useful resources to promote the social inclusion of adults and adolescents with autism. The tools are intended to provide coping strategies to help users deal with everyday challenges, promoting autonomy and well-being, and improving their quality of life.

"For AutisMIND, taking part in 4YFN is a great opportunity, giving us a great shop window to publicize our work to help people with autism," explained Alex Escolà, psychologist and course instructor at the UOC's Faculty of Psychology and Education Sciences. Escolà is also responsible for the development of the platform, in partnership with Barcelona's Institute of Psychiatric and Psychological Diagnosis and Care (IDAPP), Parc Sanitari Sant Joan de Déu hospital, the Aura Foundation, the Friends Foundation and Specialisterne.

"As a start-up incubated by the UOC, which has always believed in us and supported us, we are stronger than ever. The support it has given us includes a great deal of help with our crowdfunding initiative, which we will be launching in March," said Escolà. "We hope 4FYN will help us to publicize of our project, raise awareness of the potential of neurodiverse people and obtain potential partners while developing ideas that can help us to grow."

B-Resol: creating a safe environment for children and adolescents

Since it was created in 2016, the start-up BCN Resol, which the UOC has invested in via Invergy, has worked on the design and development of innovative ICT solutions to detect and manage conflict. The company will be attending 4YFN in order to publicize new developments in its two solutions: B-Resol, an alert channel designed to protect children and adolescents in educational, sporting, leisure and residential centres, and Co-Resol, an innovative platform that can serve as an ethics channel, internal information channel or complaints channel.

"For us, it is a great opportunity to be taking part in 4YFN. We can showcase our newest developments and our success in implementing Co-Resol in hundreds of businesses and public authorities since the approval of Law 2/2023 of 20 February on the protection of whistleblowers and combatting corruption," explained Josep Fígols, the company's CEO.

InSkin: a search engine for finding the best dermo-cosmetic product

"Every entrepreneur knows that one of the hardest parts of setting up a new business is getting known, getting people to listen to you. After that, if the idea is a good one, it will generate its own success," said Paula Ferrer. For Ferrer, a UOC Psychology graduate and creator of InSkin, taking part in 4YFN with the UOC is a great opportunity, and a challenge at the same time. "For businesses in their early stages, like ours, taking part in events of this type can have a very positive impact, showcasing us to future customers and investors," she said.

InSkin is already well on its way in terms of public awareness. The start-up was the winner of the audience award at the latest SpinUOC awards. Its tool, designed for health professionals, helps them to search for the best skin and cosmetic products for every individual, based on their ingredients. InSkin allows users to select or remove ingredients or determine the formulation, area of application, brand and action of the product to ensure they make the most appropriate recommendations.

Langtern: using AI to empower language teachers

Helping teachers search for free online content for their classes, graded by difficulty, automatically creating exercises from the content and sharing the material with students via an app are some of the functions of Langtern, a software-as-a-service (SaaS) platform that brings the power of AI to language teaching. The start-up, one of the participants in the Hubbik 2023 EduTECH Emprèn programme, will also be attending 4YFN with the UOC.

"Taking part in 4YFN is crucial for us, as we are trying to raise our profile in the EdTech sector and establish strategic liaisons with potential industry partners," explained Noé Casas, Langtern's founder. "We believe that synergies with companies in the sector could boost Langtern's growth and help us to share our vision for transforming language education, using artificial intelligence to empower teachers," he added.

Moofind: satellite technology for smart grazing

Using a collar attached to each animal, connected to the global navigation satellite system (GNSS), satellite observation models track the location of livestock and the condition of pastures in real time. It is based on a platform designed to make farmers' lives easier, improving efficiency and making advances in the digitalization of the sector. This is the aim of Moofind, a platform that uses geolocation to track extensively farmed livestock in real time. The SpinUOC 2023 finalist has also been selected as an incubation project by the European Space Agency.

"4YFN is one of the world's most important events for start-ups. It is especially important for us as it raises our profile and allows us to showcase Moofind's services and developments," said Moofind's creator, Roger Sánchez Güell, a student on the UOC's university master's degree in Financial Management who lives in Germany. "Our start-up is technology-based and aimed at an international public, which is what the investors and attendees at 4YFN are looking for. Taking part in sessions and talks at the event will, therefore, enable us to make valuable contacts with professionals and investors. Attending as guests of the UOC also strengthens our credibility with audiences," he added.

Smart Classroom: a spin-off for redesigning spaces for learning

The result of five years' work by the Smart Classroom Project research group, affiliated to the Faculty of Psychology and Education Sciences, and set up by the UOC and the University of Barcelona (UB), Smart Classroom is a spin-off promoted by the university's Research and Innovation department through Hubbik and the UB's Bosch y Gimpera Foundation. Aimed at all types of educational establishments, the company engages in research and consultancy focused on assessing and implementing teaching innovations in the design and use of educational and research spaces.

"We have the opportunity to take part in 4YFN through the UOC, representing a chance to meet a very diverse public with a strong focus on the digital sphere, to share our business and the solutions we offer, and to grow our network of professional and business contacts in the technology and business ecosystem," explained Marta López Costa, a researcher at the UOC and partner in the spin-off.  "We hope, among other things, to establish key contacts that could lead to future partnerships, obtain useful feedback from experts and potential users and to access resources or funding to boost our growth," she added.

TheKer: the present and future of collaborative robotics

Another company attending for the second year is TheKer, winner of the jury prize in the 2022 SpinUOC entrepreneurship programme. The Catalan start-up is engaged in the development of robotics, artificial intelligence and computer vision with the aim of changing the manufacturing paradigm of the electronics and semiconductors industry. For its marketing manager, Albert Badias, participating at 4YFN with the UOC is a unique opportunity to stand out in the innovation ecosystem.

"Taking part in an event like this gives us the chance to connect with other professionals, entrepreneurs and businesses in the sector and access potential investors," explained Badias. "Furthermore, being associated with the UOC strengthens our image and our values, based on our shared commitment to research into emerging technologies such as robotics and deep learning. 4YFN is a strategic window for showcasing our work, making valuable connections, meeting potential clients and discovering new challenges that need to be addressed," he added.

These entrepreneurial projects fostered by the UOC contribute to the UN's Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) 3, Good Health and Well-being; 4, Quality Education; 9, Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure; and 10, Reduced Inequalities.

UOC R&I

The UOC's research and innovation (R&I) is helping overcome pressing challenges faced by global societies in the 21st century by studying interactions between technology and human & social sciences with a specific focus on the network society, e-learning and e-health.

Over 500 researchers and more than 50 research groups work in the UOC's seven faculties, its eLearning Research programme and its two research centres: the Internet Interdisciplinary Institute (IN3) and the eHealth Center (eHC).

The university also develops online learning innovations at its eLearning Innovation Center (eLinC), as well as UOC community entrepreneurship and knowledge transfer via the Hubbik platform.

Open knowledge and the goals of the United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development serve as strategic pillars for the UOC's teaching, research and innovation. More information: research.uoc.edu.