New TECNIO Association to promote technology transfer in Catalonia

Catalonia’s universities, the I-CERCA Foundation and the CSIC have come together to create a new association in charge of promoting technology and knowledge transfer to the business world thanks to its research groups and centres certified with the TECNIO seal. The presentation of this new association took place on Monday 8 November at the UAB, and the initiative has been launched with the support of the Government of Catalonia, through ACCIÓ, the agency for business competitiveness of the Catalan Ministry for Business and Employment.

The new Associació TECNIO is formed by the 59 research groups which currently have a TECNIO seal, awarded to them by ACCIÓ. This seal identifies technology developers in Catalonia to help them connect with businesses. The new association will receive €300,000 from ACCIÓ in the next 3 years to reinforce the market vision of these agents and bring them closer to businesses.

The objective of this new initiative is to bring together and make visible the activity of research groups containing a TECNIO seal, fostering collaborations and presenting the association as a nexus point for the business and administrative sectors. Members of the association include the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Universitat de Barcelona, Universitat de Girona, Universitat de Lleida, Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya, Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Universitat Ramon Llull, Universitat Rovira i Virgili, Universitat de Vic, the I-CERCA Foundation and the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC), and its objective is to accelerate knowledge transfer from research labs to society.

Attending the official presentation held on 8 November and presided by Javier Lafuente, Rector of the UAB, were Minister for Business and Employment Roger Torrent i Ramió; Minister for Research and Universities Gemma Geis; Director General of Industry and ACCIÓ CEO Natàlia Mas; Director General of Innovation and Entrepreneurship Lluís Juncà, and President of Associació TECNIO Nora Ventosa.

Rector Javier Lafuente considered the birth of this new collaboration network a very important milestone. “When we began this project in 2017, we already thought about an association of TECNIO groups which could coordinate the process of reaching out to different industrial sectors in Catalonia, and act as technological ‘buoys’ capable of helping direct social needs to the world of knowledge”, he pointed out.

The president of the association, Nora Ventosa, explained how the entity would be governed, and highlighted the fact that the association’s members are the institutions housing the research groups with a TECNIO seal. “We will work to improve innovation in Catalonia, fostering a connection among all R&D&i agents and joint collaborations to bring research and innovation together”, she manifested.

Research and Universities Minister Gemma Geis explained that “the greatest challenge for Catalonia is improving its capacity for innovation until this becomes one of the main driving forces of our economy. We must put talent at the service of transforming the country, in order to develop a more innovative business network, so that our competitiveness can grow, and the centres with a TECNIO seal are a good model to follow.”

Business and Employment Minister Roger Torrent ended the event by emphasising that the association “allows us to go one step further in collaborations between business and research stakeholders in Catalonia to guarantee that the knowledge generated at university is passed onto our productive sector”. He went on to state that “this translates into the incorporation of more differential technologies for businesses, more business R&D and, in the end, more competitiveness and weight in the market”.

TECNIO centres

The 59 groups with a TECNIO seals are technology developers recognised by the Agency for the Management of University and Research Grant (AGAUR) dedicated to applied research in differential technology development and with the capacity to transfer results to the market through R&D&i projects with businesses, patent licenses, or the creation of tech-based start-ups. The research groups specialise in different areas, mainly those found at Catalonia’s universities, and can be found around the country, and work with both small and medium-sized companies as well as large firms in Catalonia and across Europe.

This seal of quality, which was created in 1999 with the launch of the technology innovation network Xarxa IT and is periodically renewed, is awarded to the most qualified research groups with experience in business projects, with the aim of providing more access to technology and therefore also expanding technology transfer in Catalonia. For example, the total revenue between 2016 and 2019 for the centres with a TECNIO seal was 300 million euros and 90 million in R&D&i contracts with businesses. At the same time, their research produced 61 patents which were transferred to businesses, and 17 spin-offs were created Alhora, de la seva recerca aplicada en van sorgir 61 patents que es van transferir a les empreses i es van crear 17 spin-offs were created.

To boost the impact these research groups can have on the market, ACCIÓ has conducted several actions, and since 2018 has invested over 8 million euros in the INNOTEC line, which focused on R&D projects that are developed joints by businesses and research groups with the TECNIO seal in areas such as ICTs, biotechnology, photonics, manufacturing, new materials, nanotechnology, and many others.