The Fractus-UPC Deep Tech Hub will concentrate talent development, training, innovation, research and technology transfer activities, and will actively and strategically contribute to the creation of Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya - BarcelonaTech (UPC) start-ups and/or spin-offs in the field of deep tech, founded on a scientific discovery or a technological innovation to promote its access to the market. The deep tech field develops disruptive solutions based on deep technologies linked to science or advanced engineering to respond to global challenges.

The agreement, signed on 13 September, by the rector of the UPC, Daniel Crespo, and the president and CEO of Fractus, Rubén Bonet, states that the Hub’s activities aim to respond to current challenges through significant scientific and technological advances and to promote research, innovation and knowledge transfer in areas such as mobility and logistics, materials, sustainability, urban planning, information and communication, biomedical engineering and environmental and energy technologies. Its activities will focus on the emerging areas of quantum computing, photonics, artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, robotics, electronics and advanced materials.

The Hub will also promote the UPC’s research, development and innovation (RDI) in the deep tech field through industrial doctorates, collaborations on research and innovation projects, the promotion of research lines and the development of workshops, as well as the incubation and acceleration of companies. It also plans to promote innovation challenges, prizes and forums aimed at students, as well as bachelor’s and master’s theses in this field.

Deep tech cluster
The UPC is one of the main deep tech clusters in Europe, with a powerful core of research groups that research and develop technological innovation in this field and from which several spin-offs and start-ups have emerged, such as Fractus. Led by Dr Carles Puente – who is also a professor at the Barcelona School of Telecommunications Engineering (ETSETB) at the UPC – and Rubén Bonet, the company is a pioneer in developing internal antenna technology for mobile phones, tablets and other wireless devices in the Internet of Things and specialises in new applications of fractal technology and other emerging technologies.