Espaitec has presented the main activities, milestones and progress achieved in the innovative projects promoted in 2024 and financed by the Ministry of Innovation, Industry, Trade and Tourism: "Technological Map of the province of Castellón", "Innotransfer" and "UJILAB Impuls"
Espaitec has shared this Thursday the annual results of its participation in innovation projects carried out with the support of the Department of Innovation, Industry, Commerce and TourismSpecifically, the achievements in the projects have been shown «Technological Map of the province of Castellón», «Innotransfer» y «UJI.>LAB Impuls».
The opening of the day was attended by: Francis Xavier Sogorb, Deputy Director General of Advancement of the Digital Society and Artificial Intelligence of the Ministry of Innovation, Industry, Trade and Tourism; david cabedo; Vice-Rector for Innovation, Transfer and Scientific Dissemination of the Universitat Jaume I; and Juan Antonio Bertolin, director of Espaitec.
Sogorb has highlighted "the fundamental role that Valencian science parks have as key players in the generation of innovation and technology for the business sector, being the main link between university and business." Adding that "the Generalitat Valenciana is firmly committed to continuing to support the projects that science parks are developing to respond to the technological needs of companies in our territory, through innovation, and highlighting the value of Valencian public universities.".
Likewise, Bertolin has highlighted "the great work of the Valencian Science Parks Network, and specifically of Espaitec, in the development of projects aimed primarily at boosting the business environment through innovation, with the invaluable help of the Generalitat Valenciana".
For its part, Cabedo He stressed the support of the Generalitat Valenciana to the scientific parks of the universities, «Parks are a key instrument for innovation and the development of technological projects in which the university collaborates, adapting to the priority needs in each context and offering networked responses». He has also highlighted «the total alignment of Espaitec's activities with the strategy of the Universitat Jaume I. Alignment that allows us to work in a coordinated manner, in all actions and projects, with the knowledge transfer office, with the innovation agents and with the scientific units of business innovation».
«Technological Map of the province of Castellón»
The session began with the presentation of the results of the «Technological Map of the province of Castellón», project led by technology Susana Pérez, which currently It has 210 innovative and technological companies attached to the platform, once identified and incorporated 57 new companies compared to last yearThe initiative has made it possible to identify and give visibility to technology-based and innovative companies in the province, as well as to explore possibilities for synergies and collaborations between them and with research groups at the Universitat Jaume I.
One of the project activities has been the «Innovation Day», held at the Vinalab in Vinaròs, a session in which 11 innovative companies from the Benicarló-Vinaròs business axis, with the aim of bringing together and facilitating collaboration between the industrial sector and the UJI research groups. Another of the outstanding initiatives has been the 2nd edition of «femSTEM», an event that highlights and makes known the Role of women technologists with STEM studies who carry out their work in companies in the province of Castellón, and who are part of the initiative. Regarding the new lines of work for the year 2025, an application is being developed through Artificial Intelligence to promote the creation of business synergies between the companies that form part of the project, focusing on firms located in the industrial estates of the province.
El «Technological Observatory», through its newsletters PRISMA y FOCUS, offers relevant information (patents, projects, trends) on the most notable disruptive technologies on the market. In 2024, the report on Cybersecurity was presented. Espaitec has also participated together with the rest of the scientific parks of the Valencian public universities in the «VI rePCV Awards», Organized by Network of Valencian Science Parks (rePCV) at the City of Innovation of the Polytechnic University of Valencia, recognizing companies linked to the Parks in the categories Spin-Off, Startup y University-Business Collaboration. In this edition, AirBiometrics, a company from Espaitec, was awarded a special mention in the Startup category.
«Innotransfer»
Regarding the project «Innotransfer», the technician Laura Menendez He highlighted the event held in April where disruptive technologies, challenges and innovative solutions that are being implemented in the agricultural sector were analysed. Innotransfer is a multi-sector initiative of open innovation and collective management led by the five Valencian public science parks, which are part of the Network of Valencian Science Parks (rePCV), and allows to put in contact with companies or business associations who have technological challenges to solve in their industry with research staff from Valencian public universities, technological institutes or other companies that can offer a solution. Regarding the new developments for next year, we would like to highlight the organisation of a sectoral conference related to the challenges to be addressed in the face of natural disasters, such as DANA.
«UJILAB Impuls»
To close the set of projects, the activities linked to the «UJILAB Impuls». So the technician Laura Menendez has highlighted the launch of the agitator system demonstrator intended for Center for Research in Robotics and Underwater Technology (CIRTESU-UJI), designed to optimize the operation of water treatment systems, allowing companies to carry out tests in a full-scale and controlled environment, and the open day «Espaitec Innovation Spaces», where companies, research staff, the university community and civil society visited the three demonstrators currently funded and in recent years by the Ministry of Innovation, Industry, Trade and Tourism, such as the Espaitec FabLab, the prototyping workshop available to the university community.
The technician Neus Fabregat has shared the results of the call for proposals "UJI.>LAB Impuls", an initiative led by the Office of Cooperation in Research and Technological Development (OCIT-UJI)In which Spaitec actively collaborates in the coordination and support of proof of concept projects of research groups at the Universitat Jaume I, which this year have reached a total of 13 proposals.
Lastly, Juan Antonio Bertolin, director of Espaitec, has closed the event by presenting some projects proposing different initiatives to mitigate the effects caused by DANA, both jointly between the five Valencian science parks and by Espaitec, and thanking the companies, research staff and teaching staff of the Universitat Jaume I for their assistance and support for the different projects promoted by the Park in 2024.