The Autonomous University of Barcelona (UAB) has reached 30 spin-offs (companies arising from the technological transfer of research carried out in its facilities) as explained by Rosa Maria Sebastián, vice-rector of Innovation and Entrepreneurship of the university and director of its Research Park. These companies, she explains, raised funds for 4 million euros in 2022 and reached a turnover of 5 million.
The most recent spin-off, created this year, was Tectum Garden, specialized in providing services for urban agriculture. Some have already been acquired by large groups, such as Tramontane Therapeutics, founded in 2021 and which develops gene therapies for metabolic and neurodegenerative diseases, which last year was acquired by the American pharmaceutical company Kriya.
Last year, the Autonomous University raised 180 million euros for its R&D, a very high percentage of the 430 million budget that the university manages each year. “Our researchers are very active in raising funds from European projects, and from collaborations with companies,” highlighted Sebastián, who nevertheless showed his concern about what will happen when the Next Generation funds run out. “Spanish investment in R&D is very low, only 0.3% of GDP, compared to the 1% objective set by the Government in the Organic Law of the University System,” he lamented.
The Autonomous Community now wants to boost its technology transfer activity, and next week it organizes its first innovation week, an initiative that it wants to maintain. “We manage public money and we aspire for it to have a social return, and for our knowledge to be transformed into economic activity.” Thus, Sebastián explained, the UAB was the university that led the application for European patents last year, with 60 files, of which 23 have already been authorized as priority.
UAB research has been creating companies for years, although the activity was not institutionalized as it has been until now. Thus, Sebastián highlights, companies such as Scytl, Strands, AB-Biotics and Davantis have emerged from the campus. According to university data, the majority of its companies are technological (38%) and biomedicine and biotechnology (24%).
The UAB also wants to promote its Research Park, where there are already 23 companies located that maintain a thousand jobs and have a turnover of 20 million euros. Among them there are multinationals such as Lucta, Suez or AC Marca “but they are always companies that collaborate with the training we provide at the university.”
