The UOC promotes tech entrepreneurship at the Mobile World Congress start-ups fair

The Universitat Oberta de Catalunya (UOC) is supporting technological entrepreneurship again this year at the 4 Years From Now (4YFN) fair for start-ups, part of the Mobile World Congress. This event, in which the UOC has participated every year since 2015, will take place between 27 February and 2 March. The university, which is participating with the coordination of Hubbik, its entrepreneurship support platform, will be on stand 8.1C24, in Hall 8.1 in the Fira Gran Via trade fair area in L'Hospitalet de Llobregat.

The UOC's participation in 4YFN enables it to consolidate "its position as a driving force for innovation around digitalization", said Àngels Fitó, the university's vice president for Competitiveness and Employability. The vice president also said that this presence shows how a "desire to be an entrepreneurial university is bearing fruit in the form of new business initiatives which are committed to societal impact". The UOC fosters synergies through the Hubbik platform, and becomes "the key agent in an innovation ecosystem that catalyses emerging technologies into new opportunities for a more inclusive society", explained Fitó.

Meanwhile, Mireia Riera, the director of the Research and Innovation department at the UOC, which includes Hubbik, emphasized that 4YFN is "a strategic event in the world of start-up companies". As a university, said Riera, the UOC's mission is to transfer the knowledge it generates to society, and to "work to make the results of research and innovation have a social impact". That is why 4YFN is "an ideal environment for raising the profile of the services and products offered by the UOC's start-up companies and spin-off companies, and for building bridges between them and the entrepreneurial ecosystem". 

A total of eight entrepreneurial projects will be presented at the UOC stand at 4YFN 2023. They are supported by the UOC through Hubbik, and in some cases with investment from the university through Invergy.

AutisMIND Vídeos: resources for the everyday lives of people with autism

AutisMIND Videos is a web platform featuring interactive videos aimed at enhancing the inclusion of adolescents and adults with autism. The goal is for users to make decisions while the videos are playing and to choose how the story continues, how to solve a problem, or the outcome of a situation. AutisMIND, which won the SpinUOC 2022 programme's audience award, acts as a very powerful therapeutic tool that enables its users to learn to anticipate situations, practice possible solutions and see the consequences of each action.

The platform was created by the clinical psychologist Alex Escolà, a course instructor on the University Master's Degree in Child and Adolescent Psychology: Intervention Techniques and Strategies in the UOC Faculty of Psychology and Education Sciences, and the team of psychologists at the Barcelona Institute of Psychiatric and Psychological Diagnosis and Care (IDAPP), in collaboration with the Sant Joan de Déu Health Park, the Aura Foundation, the Friends Foundation and Specialisterne, among others.

Escolà anticipates "being able to raise the profile" of the resource and the company by attending 4YFN, and establishing contacts with "possible collaborators", as well as finding out about the latest ideas in the sector. Escolà rates the support received from the UOC very highly, because it has enabled him to focus on the product he created, which is "a social project to help people with autism".

Becadvisor: the platform that connects companies and internship students

Pilar Moliné, a graduate in Law from the UOC, is one of the creators of Becadvisor, a project supported by the Hubbik SpinTeams programme. Becadvisor is an exclusive platform for finding students on university and vocational training internships all over Spain, quickly, easily and securely.

The platform brings together students seeking internships, businesses, universities and vocational training schools. Moliné explained how the platform works: "The client publishes an offer for an internship, which is passed on to the universities and training schools which are offering the course the client stipulates. It receives an unlimited number of candidates with information on their availability and remuneration or otherwise, as stipulated by the educational centres." Finally, the client chooses a candidate and Becadvisor arranges the agreement.

Becadvisor –this start-up recently completed a round of funding for €150,000– also aims to help students choose where to start their career, based on opinions left by other interns about their previous experiences in companies.

Moliné believes that participating in 4YFN involves "receiving feedback from experts and learning about the latest trends and technologies in the sector". The entrepreneur rates the support from the UOC very positively: "Thanks to the high-level specialized entrepreneurship programme, we can develop the skills and knowledge necessary for business projects."

BeChallenge: open innovation with challenges

The BeChallenge platform allows any professional, institution or company to design, publish and raise the profile of open innovation challenges. The man behind BeChallenge is Xavi Pascual, who holds a university master's degree in Education and ICT (E-learning) from the UOC.

BeChallenge allows users to publish challenges in open innovation, both externally and internally within the company. At 4YFN, the start-up company will be presenting its "Challenge Based Innovation" for carrying out innovation processes that can bring together internal and external talent to solve challenges in face-to-face, hybrid or 100% digital environments.

Pascual, who is returning with his company to 4YFN, accompanied by the UOC, praised the university's ability to adapt its support "according to the stage we were at, and the needs we had at the time. It is a good partner on this path, which helps to give us credibility, visibility and access to resources in some cases".

Chordata Motion: motion capture for 3D digitization

Chordata Motion is a company specializing in the development of garments for motion capture and its digitization in 3D. The initiative won the SpinUOC entrepreneurship programme in 2019. 

The start-up company uses open source code in its product, which is flexible and customizable, and adapts to the specific needs of its user, who maintains complete control.

Chordata Motion is returning to 4YFN with the UOC. "We go there with our start-up company at a more advanced stage in its development every year," explains one of its managers, Juancho Casañas. "We've just brought the first version of our motion capture devices to market, so 4YFN is an excellent opportunity to showcase our new hardware and software."

eTrivium: a comprehensive online learning (e-learning) solution for companies

eTrivium is a project that participated in Hubbik's EduTECH, an online learning entrepreneurship programme. One of its creators, Anna Domínguez, explained that it is the comprehensive solution to enable SMEs to "integrate their own online training and learning environment into their organization's mission".

Their product enables personalization, support and measurement. "We offer the three levers of innovative online learning: technology, methodology and content," emphasized Domínguez. eTrivium allows companies to "turn business competitiveness into lifelong employability and therefore stand out in their recruitment and development of talent," she added. 

The people behind the project rate their participation in 4YFN supported by the UOC very highly, because it is "the best opportunity to share trends and raise the profile of opportunities in corporate online learning."

Immersium Studio – immersive learning experiences

Immersive Studio, a spin-off company of the UOC which provides expertise in immersive experiences for all types of institutions in virtual and augmented reality, will be presenting its immersive learning initiatives in the health sciences at 4YFN. Its CEO, Luis Villarejo, explained that participating in this event once again is "a very good opportunity that can be taken advantage of on many levels".

In addition, Villarejo emphasized that the support received from the UOC "has been exceptional in human terms and because of all the key opportunities they offer us, which are very important for an organization like ours". "They have a great deal of experience in supporting entrepreneurship and they make it accessible to you in a contextualized and practical way," he added.

Immersium Studio was the winner of one of the most important awards in the virtual reality world, the Auggie Award, in 2021 in the category of best health and well-being solution with its training to improve the skills of more than 20,000 European healthcare professionals working in ICUs during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Opground: recruiting IT professionals in record time

Opground, a start-up company which connects companies with the IT professionals most suitable for their needs, in the same way as recruiters do, but in less than five minutes and without wasting anyone's time, is returning to 4YFN with the UOC. The product allows companies to save up to 80% of the time they spend looking for new talent. 

Eduard Teixidó, one of its creators, hopes that their participation on the UOC stand will expand their network of contacts, and continue to raise the profile of their project in the sector. 

Teixidó rated the support from Hubbik very highly: "We always remember how the UOC believed in Opground from day one. When we needed their help, we had their support."

THEKER: robotics, artificial intelligence and computer vision

THEKER is an R&D&I company working in robotics, artificial intelligence and computer vision, which has developed a microelectronic soldering and desoldering technology robot to "change the manufacturing paradigm of products and semiconductors in the electronics industry," according to its creators. This start-up company won the jury prize in the SpinUOC entrepreneurship programme in 2022. 

One of the people behind it is Carla Gómez, an engineer and student on the university master's degree in Taxation in the Faculty of Law and Political Science, who said that participating in 4YFN is "an opportunity to learn from the experience of other entrepreneurs and professionals in the sector". Gómez emphasized that receiving support from the UOC "creates more opportunities for connections with key players in the entrepreneurial ecosystem, such as accelerators and investors".

These entrepreneurial projects promoted with the UOC support some of the UN's Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), including: 3. Good Health and Well-Being; 4. Quality Education; 8. Decent Work and Economic Growth; 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 51 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.