Research news
List of news published in the Press Room on research and innovation
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The UPC is Spain’s top university in raising funds for European research and innovation projects
The UPC is Spain’s top university in raising Horizon Europe funds for research and innovation projects in 2021-2022, having raised 42 million euros for 66 projects already signed. It is also Spain’s third organisation, behind the Spanish National Research Council and Tecnalia.
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The UPC participates in 65 of the Horizon Europe projects funded so far, leading 12 of them
The UPC has successfully participated in several calls issued during the first ten months of the Horizon Europe programme. The University takes part in 65 projects—leading 12 of them—which account for almost 47 million euros in funding. Its presence is particularly important in the Digital, Industry and Space cluster and in the Climate, Energy and Mobility cluster. In Excellent Science, it has achieved four awards from the European Research Council (ERC) and nine Marie Curie projects.
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Adriano Camps and Marta Guardiola win the Duran Farell Technological Research Award
Professor Adriano Camps, director of the UPC’s NanoSat Lab, and MiWEndo founder Marta Guardiola have won the 13th Duran Farell Technological Research Award. The jury also presented an honourable mention to IBEC researcher Zaida Álvarez.
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A thesis on Paulista Avenue in the Brazilian city of São Paulo was awarded the Manuel de Solà-Morales European Prize in the field of urbanism
The architect Renata Priore Lima, a professor at the Architecture and Urbanism College of São Paulo (Brazil), received the Manuel de Solà-Morales European Prize in urbanism in its second edition for her doctoral thesis “Plugin: interfaces urbanas en los nuevos centros lineales: el caso de la Avenida Paulista”, defended at the UPC. Three additional awards were also given to finalist projects at the award ceremony, which took place on 19 March at the UPC’s Barcelona School of Architecture (ETSAB).
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Sónar, the UPC and betevé present, for the first time in Barcelona, the AI and Music S+T+ARTS Festival
Sónar, the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya · BarcelonaTech (UPC) and betevé are partnering to present the AI and Music S+T+ARTS Festival on 27 and 28 October. The festival will be held live in Barcelona and online and will feature nearly 30 activities, including shows, presentations, talks and roundtables with artists, scientists and other professionals who incorporate artificial intelligence as an essential element in musical projects. UPC students can get a discount (ticket price of 15 euros) by presenting their student card.
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The UPC ranks higher in the 2019 Europe’s Most Innovative Universities ranking
The UPC climbs six positions, so that it now ranks 81st in Europe and 1st among technical universities in Spain in the 2019 Europe’s Most Innovative Universities ranking drawn up by Reuters. The ranking lists the top 100 European universities that contribute the most to progress in science and technological innovation and to the promotion of global economic development.
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UPC students set for first in university space rocket
The Cosmic Research team, made up of students from three schools of the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC) in Terrassa and Barcelona are carrying out a series of trials in order to become the first university students to launch a rocket into space. By 2022 they expect to be able to cross the 100-km barrier.
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More than 200 students at the UPC's Week of Engineering Competition
From 25 November to 1 December, the 10th edition of the Week of Engineering Competition (WEC) will be held at the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC), with more than 200 engineering students enrolled. During the WEC, students from any school of the UPC can get out of the classroom and participate in competitions, activities and group dynamics with companies, to test their knowledge and skills and give them a real work experience for a few hours.
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UPC brand technology at the Smart City Expo World Congress
At the Gran Vía venue of Fira de Barcelona from 14 to 16 November
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The UPC steps on the accelerator
On 11 and 12 November, the six teams of UPC students who have designed and built electric vehicles to participate in university competitions attended Expoelectric, a meeting point to encourage energy saving and efficient driving.
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The TETRAMAX European project to improve technology transfer in ICT
The Data Management Group (DAMA-UPC) of the UPC is participating in the European project Technology Transfer via Multinational Application Experiments (TETRAMAX), whose goal is to implement the European Smart Anything Everywhere initiative in the field of ICT technologies, particularly those aimed at the internet, in order to promote innovation based on technology transfer experiences.
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The initiative 5GBarcelona, at the Mobile World Congress
The Government of Catalonia, Barcelona City Council, Mobile World Capital Barcelona, the i2CAT Foundation, the Telecommunications Technology Centre of Catalonia (CTTC), Atos and the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC) participate in the 5GBarcelona initiative, which aims to turn the city and Catalonia into one of the European digital innovation hubs in the field of 5G technology. The 5GBarcelona strategy is present at the Mobile World Congress 2018, which will be held from 26 February to 1 March at Fira de Barcelona's Gran Via venue.
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ESEIAAT-UPC researchers participate in space mission to study gigantic lightning jets
The Lightning Research Group (LRG) of the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC), based on the Terrassa Campus, is participating in the ASIM space mission to observe, record and analyse the most violent electrical storms that occur in the atmosphere. The aim is to verify data collected by an observatory installed on the International Space Station (ISS), which will measure high-energy terrestrial emissions in the atmosphere, by comparing it to data obtained by the UPC at various points around the planet.
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UPC cements position as Spain’s top university in innovation and technological development
According to the 2017 edition of U-Ranking, the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC) has maintained its position as Spain’s top university in innovation and technological development in the performance ranking and moved up to number one in the ranking based on volume. It has also maintained its position as the number two Spanish university overall and moved up among the top three in teaching and research.
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CARNET, a National Research Award for public-private partnership in R&I
The Future Mobility Research Hub (CARNET) promoted by SEAT, the UPC and Volkswagen Group Research, which focuses on future automotive and urban mobility, has received the 2017 National Award for Public-Private Partnership in Research and Innovation on 15 October.
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The UPC, SEAT and Volkswagen Group Innovation look for new strategies to improve the performance of the powertrain and batteries of future electric vehicles
The UPC’s inLab FIB collaborates with SEAT and Volkswagen Group Innovation (Wolfsburg, Germany) in the Predictive eBoost project, focused on designing new strategies, based on machine learning algorithms and data analysis, to improve the efficiency and performance of electric vehicle motors and batteries.
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The WOMEN-UP project launches a MOOC on eHealth applied to female urinary incontinence
The Female Urinary Incontinence and eHealth MOOC is a free online course on urinary incontinence in women and on the techniques and technologies available to enhance the effectiveness of medical treatments (eHealth). It will be available online from 14 January to 15 March.
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Maria Pau Ginebra, Eduard Alarcón, Marcel Guardia and Maria Teresa Martínez-Seara receive the 2018 ICREA Acadèmia distinctions
UPC researchers Maria Pau Ginebra, Eduard Alarcón, Marcel Guardia and Maria Teresa Martínez-Seara are four of the forty-five researchers who received the 2018 ICREA Acadèmia distinctions on 30 April at the Palau de la Generalitat. The event was chaired by the minister for Business and Knowledge, Àngels Chacón, and attended by the minister for Universities and Research, Francesc Xavier Grau, and ICREA director and UPC professor Antonio Huerta.
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The UPC among the world’s top 50 in Architecture, Art History and Civil Engineering in the latest edition of the QS Rankings
In the 2024 QS World University Rankings by Subject the UPC is ranked the world’s 26th best in Architecture, in the 21-40 band in Art History and 40th best in Civil Engineering. It is also listed among the world’s top 100 universities in seven additional fields and is the top Spanish university in seven subjects.
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The UPC launches #looopers, a science outreach series on YouTube
“Nanoquè? Nanosatèl·lits!” (Nano-what? Nanosatellites!) is the first video in the series that the UPC has launched on its YouTube channel. Teaching and research staff and students have collaborated to reach out to young people and encourage them to take up STEAM vocations.
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A researcher from the UPC’s ESEIAAT leads a European project to create four advanced support centres for the textile industry in Morocco and Jordan
Mònica Ardanuy, a professor of textile engineering at the Terrassa School of Industrial, Aerospace and Audiovisual Engineering (ESEIAAT) and a researcher in the TECTEX research group at the UPC, is leading the European project FOSTEX, which aims to create four advanced support centres for the textile industry in Moroccan and Jordanian universities. FOSTEX received one million euros in funding from the European Commission and aims to have these centres operational by 2022.
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A nanosatellite developed at the NanoSat Lab of the UPC has been placed in orbit with six experiments on board
The launch, funded by the Institute of Space Studies of Catalonia (IEEC), took place at 5:28 a.m. from the Sriharikota space base (India)
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New discovery in the behaviour of high-speed particles
Researchers from the UPC and the University of Massachusetts analyse how particles moving at high speeds undergo a transformation from quantum to classical behaviour at temperatures above the anomaly threshold.
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Mobile-recycling bacteria star in the new #looopers episode featuring researcher Toni Dorado
Microorganisms found in wastewater are capable of separating metals from electronic waste through a process known as bioleaching, which is cheaper and cleaner than traditional processes and helps recover precious metals such as gold, silver and copper. Researcher Toni Dorado, a professor at the UPC-EPSEM, unveils the secrets of this technology in a new episode in the #looopers series on YouTube.
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Students from ESADE, IED and the UPC present prototypes and solutions to improve urban mobility at CERNS
Eight teams of students from the UPC —of the Barcelona School of Telecommunications Engineering (ETSETB)—, from Esade and IED Barcelona have presented, at the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN), at Geneva, their projects and prototypes the projects and prototypes created to improve the sustainable development of the cities through the urban mobility, challenge faced in this year's edition of the Challenge Based Innovation (CBI).
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The UPC participates in the new spin-off Smart Tower, a service for monitoring transmission towers remotely and autonomously
The UPC’s new spin-off Smart Tower, led by the researcher Lluís Gil, provides remote and autonomous monitoring of transmission towers. The technology-based startup has received the support of The Collider, the Mobile World Capital Barcelona innovation programme that connects scientific and entrepreneurial talent to create technology-based startups.
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The Doctoral School welcomes new students and presents the special awards
A total of 31 doctoral degree holders have received the 2020 special doctoral awards, with which the UPC’s Doctoral School recognises the best doctoral theses defended in the 2017–2018 academic year. The awards have been presented during the welcome event for new doctoral students, broadcasted live on the UPCtv channel.
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Nearby Computing, a spin-off from the BSC and the UPC, completes a funding round
Cellnex, Elewit and Lenovo have led a funding round in Nearby Computing, a spin-off from the Barcelona Supercomputing Center and the UPC specialising in edge computing and 5G networks. The two million euros raised in this seed round will support the company’s growth by boosting its global sales.
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Exploring connections between AI and music: Sónar and the UPC introduce the #ThinkingLab
On Thursday 13 May, a panel of groundbreaking artists and leading experts in artificial intelligence have explored the connections between AI and music in a live-streamed event and that has marked the first activity of the #ThinkingLab created by Sónar and the UPC, ahead of the S+T+ARTS AI and Music Festival that is taking place in Barcelona this autumn.
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The UPC is contributing to the fight against COVID-19 with several research projects and 3D printing of medical supplies
In response to the COVID-19 health emergency, UPC research groups and centres are working on several scientific projects to tackle the spread of the virus. Additionally, a number of professors, researchers and students are sharing their knowledge and 3D-printing equipment to make masks, respirators and face shields for hospitals.