The FBG managed 46 million euros in UB research, transfer and innovation projects in 2023
The Bosch i Gimpera Foundation (FBG), the knowledge transfer office of the University of Barcelona (UB), presents its report of activities for the year 2023, coinciding with its 40th anniversary. This year has been marked by a strategic reorganization of the FBG, with the aim of improving management processes; promoting collaboration between university, business and institution; improving the generation and management of patents and licenses; and promoting the creation of companies.
In 2023 the UB consolidated its leading position in the university world, standing out as the Spanish university with the most European patent applications filed last year. Likewise, the University of Barcelona has been the leader among Catalan universities in attracting projects in the call for Knowledge Industry 2023 grants from the Department of Research and Universities of the Generalitat de Catalunya.
These are just some of the most relevant aspects of the innovation and knowledge transfer activities carried out at the University of Barcelona during 2023, which reflect the institution’s commitment to academic excellence and quality research and its contribution to social and economic development.
Four decades transferring UB research
For 40 years the FBG has been working to transfer the research results generated at the University of Barcelona to society, through contract research, the creation of spin-offs and the commercialisation of technologies, materials and licences.
Among the most outstanding indicators of the year, the FBG managed a total of 46.4 million euros in research, transfer and innovation projects of the University of Barcelona. At the same time, it processed 47.98 million euros in project contracts for the UB. The University had 1,753 active research projects, and 735 people were hired for research projects. In addition, a total of 618 companies and institutions contracted research from the University.
Moreover, 139 patents are available for transfer, 51 inventions were evaluated and 11 technologies were licensed. Also, two new spin-offs were created: Disrupt Therapeutics and Smart Classroom Project, and 16 entrepreneurial projects were advised.
In 2023, UB investee companies raised 10.8 million euros in public and private funding. The spin-offs generated more than 270 jobs, which have contributed to boosting the economy and creating employment in Catalonia.
Awards and grants
As it does every year, the Bosch i Gimpera Foundation has contributed to the transfer of knowledge by awarding several prizes. Thus, the Antoni Caparrós prize for the best knowledge transfer project was awarded to Dr. Hibai López, from the Faculty of Information and Audiovisual Media, for the project ‘Dismantling myths of gambling through Instagram’, and to Dr. Antoni Ibarz Valls, from the Faculty of Biology, for the project ‘Non-invasive study of the state of fish and response to possible food additives using biomarkers of epidermal mucus’.
Gate2Brain, a spin-off of the University of Barcelona, the Barcelona Biomedical Research Institute and the Sant Joan de Déu Research Institute of the Sant Joan de Déu Hospital, was awarded the Senén Vilaró prize for the best innovative company.
In addition, the FBG awarded 100,000 euros to four projects in the framework of the eighth edition of the Fund for the Promotion of Innovation (F2I) grants. Jordi Tiana, from the Faculty of Physics; ‘Ultrafast IR portable camera based on coded light’, by Dr. Martí Duocastella, from the Faculty of Physics; and ‘Second-generation hepatitis A vaccine: use of a rapidly replicating strain in Vero cells encapsulated in immunopotentiating vesicles’, by Dr. Maria Isabel Costafreda, from the Faculty of Biology.
This report reflects the constant effort of the Bosch i Gimpera Foundation to ensure that the knowledge generated at the UB has a real impact on society, an objective that remains at the heart of its mission after four decades of activity.
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