“It is essential to ensure that the knowledge generated at universities reaches society”
We interviewed Dr. Mercè Segarra, Vice-Rector for Entrepreneurship, Innovation and Transfer and Professor of the Department of Materials Science and Physical Chemistry of the Faculty of Chemistry at the University of Barcelona.
What is special about the innovation and knowledge transfer carried out at the University of Barcelona?
We have a proven track record in transfer. The Bosch i Gimpera Foundation was created forty years ago. This means that many researchers, some of whom have already retired, began to carry out research transfer in the 1980s, when it was considered far-fetched both here and in most universities. In the eighties, research was strongly promoted, but it was not until the last few years, when everyone realised that research had to reach society, that transfer really took off.
To what do we owe this paradigm shift?
My feeling is that the stars have aligned: there is a general manager for transfer in the Generalitat’s Department of Research and Universities; most universities have a vice-rectorate specifically devoted to transfer and innovation; the Ministry provides specific support for public-private collaboration projects; and there is also the European Institute of Technology, which has carried out many programmes in which innovation is a fundamental part and has gradually convinced researchers and scholars of the importance of transfer.
How can we support researchers so that their research and innovations can be transferred to society?
First and foremost, we must assist them in submitting proposals to competitive calls for public-private partnerships or proofs of concept. We must also equip them with the necessary tools to carry out this transfer, establish contacts with companies, identify challenges that companies put forward and that researchers can meet, and, moreover, acknowledge at the institutional level that transfer is one of the tasks that researchers must carry out.
Entrepreneurship, innovation, transfer, are these words that still arouse reluctance in researchers, or is this phase over?
There is still some reluctance. I remember thirty years ago, when we started implementing transfer projects, people told us that we were becoming part of the business world and that the university was being commodified, but the fact is that it is one of the duties of universities, in addition to training students and generating new knowledge. It is essential to ensure that knowledge reaches society. Research cannot remain in a file drawer. We are trying to change the mentality of researchers and we are gaining more and more followers because they realise that this is the right way to go.
What strategies and programmes have you implemented or do you plan to implement to promote collaboration between universities, industry and the business sector?
At the University of Barcelona we have some programmes managed through the Bosch i Gimpera Foundation, such as the Fund for the Promotion of Innovation (F2I), which evaluates the results of a research project to see if it can become a product or innovation that can reach the market and which is endowed with €25,000 per selected project. We also have the Mentor in Residence (MiR) scheme, which involves hiring someone to work closely with the researcher to see how their research can evolve and become a spin-off. In addition, the Vice-rectorate promotes grants to intensify transfer, such as co-funding for promoters, grants for Tecnio groups, etc.
You are currently Vice Rector, but you have also been active in research. Do you miss it?
I really miss being in the lab. I led the Diogma research group, which focuses on working on materials. I am a chemist by training, but my PhD was in metallic materials science. After so many years in the field, I have worked on everything from superconducting materials to go into space to the treatment of municipal solid waste. Our research group is part of a metallurgy department and, therefore, we have worked with companies in the sector, and we won the Antoni Caparrós Award thanks to our collaboration with La Farga Lacambra.
You’ve done research, you’ve done transfer, you’re still teaching, is knowing the different sides of the university system crucial when it comes to making decisions to help researchers?
Absolutely. When you get to a management position like this it is essential to know what goes on in the day-to-day running of the university, classes, relations with companies, competitive research, European projects, and so on. You can’t make decisions about how to manage a doctoral thesis or how to draw up an intellectual property protection agreement if you haven’t done it before. In our research group we registered many patents which, at the beginning, were difficult to draft, and we learned how to do it. In the end, you can’t regulate intellectual property if you don’t know what you’re talking about. It is very important to have the background and, above all, not to forget the students. At university, you can’t be a good teacher if you don’t do research, and at the same time, you can’t be a good teacher if you don’t do transfer, because you don’t know the real issues of society that you have to convey to the students.
What advice and suggestions would you give to students who are interested in entrepreneurship or innovation projects?
University students should be curious. You don’t pursue a career just to get a degree and then go to work on an assembly line. University graduates, in their work, must try to bring about social change, or improve the production of a product or service. The important thing is for them to be enthusiastic about what they are doing and have the desire to create new things.
What should transfer be like in the future, and where is the UB heading?
One of the challenges ahead of us is for transfer to take place in all areas of knowledge. Traditionally, it has been carried out in the areas of experimental sciences and health sciences; now, increasingly, it is being carried out in the social sciences and the humanities. The knowledge produced at the university must reach society; perhaps the best way is not to create a company or a patent, but it is possible to disseminate what is being studied, so that people know what society’s money is being invested in. We are a public university and we must be accountable to the people who are funding the university. And we have to show that all that investment leads to an improvement in the social system and in people’s way of life.
Why is it important for the University of Barcelona to have a transfer office, such as the Bosch i Gimpera Foundation, that can connect university and business to transfer innovation to society?
Because we need a meeting point. It has often been said that the university is far removed from business, but we are getting increasingly closer. To establish this link, we need professionals who know both worlds perfectly well. As a researcher, you may have met a company, but you need a person to bring you together, to translate the language, which is becoming more and more similar. Years ago, a researcher would talk to a company and they spoke different languages because they didn’t understand each other. Now that is changing a lot. The FBG helps us to facilitate these conversations, to give us an administrative and legal framework. In short, the Foundation links the two worlds, and helps companies and society to get to know what is being done at the university.
The Bosch i Gimpera Foundation celebrates its 40th anniversary this year. One wish?
May it keep going and growing for at least another 40 years. There have been a number of functional changes, not strategic ones. We need people specialised in valorising what we get out of research and see if that has a direct application or if it will take 20 years to reach a company. I think the Foundation, a pioneer in the Spanish university system, is an indispensable tool that helps us to carry all this forward.
More about Mercè Segarra
The best invention in history?
The most surprising one was television.
What would you like to see in the future?
Teleporting.
A future advancement that scares you?
The misuse of artificial intelligence.
A role model?
Galileo.
What could be done to achieve equality between men and women?
To educate people, starting at home.
The FBG is…
Our window into companies.