The Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya - BarcelonaTech (UPC) and the Barcelona School of Civil Engineering (ETSECCPB) officially opened the 2026-2027 academic year with the cantata Cerdà: The Force of Civilisation. The work, by the composer and pianist Albert Guinovart and the writer Esteve Miralles, was chosen to mark 2026 as the Ildefons Cerdà Year and pays tribute to the figure, ideas and innovative legacy of the civil engineer, who is regarded as the creator of urban planning as a scientific discipline. The piece was performed by Guinovart himself on the piano, together with the baritone Guillem Batllori, the actor Armand Villén as narrator and stage director, the Orfeó Gracienc choir—conducted by Pablo Larraz—and various instrumentalists.

The event, which was broadcast live on the UPC YouTube channel, featured contributions from the secretary general for Research and Universities of the Government of Catalonia, Oriol Escardíbul; the UPC rector, Francesc Torres; the chair of the Board of Trustees, Montserrat Guàrdia; the University’s general secretary, Neus Cónsul; and the director of the Barcelona School of Civil Engineering, Esther Real. Also speaking were the chair of the UPC Student Council, Pau Argiz, and the chair of the Student Delegation at the Barcelona School of Civil Engineering, Ivan Hidalgo, representing the student body.

Research geared towards social progress

In his speech, Rector Torres stated that Cerdà left us a lesson that remains fully relevant today: “technology is particularly meaningful when it serves to address the major challenges facing society, a lesson that we embrace with the ambition of pursuing excellence in what we do, but excellence with a purpose, directing our research towards advancing society and providing the education that makes this possible”.

In this regard, the rector highlighted that the UPC aspires to be one of the main drivers of the reindustrialisation of Catalonia and that it is a leader in attracting funding from the Horizon Europe programme and in innovation and knowledge-transfer rankings. “The challenge is to turn these capabilities into a well-structured and appropriately scaled innovation and knowledge-transfer system that genuinely drives the productive sector, creating wealth and social wellbeing, while never abandoning our commitment as a public university committed to universal values,” he stressed.

To meet this challenge, Francesc Torres explained that this academic year the UPC will focus on strengthening alliances with the main stakeholders across the territory and developing initiatives that bring students closer to innovation and enable them to develop critical thinking and the foundations for a professional career grounded in technological humanism.

“Cerdà understood, 150 years ago, that the best way to use engineering was to put it at the service of people. Today, we must do exactly the same, but in the face of much greater and more interdisciplinary challenges,” the rector stated. He concluded his speech by saying, “If Catalonia wants to be one of the most innovative regions in Europe, we want to be at the forefront; creating knowledge, innovating and, above all, developing the talent that will make this possible”.

The secretary general for Research and Universities, Oriol Escardíbul, described the UPC as a powerful, established university with strong roots in the territory. “This is the century of the UPC,” Escardíbul stated, referring to the University’s experience in fields such as AI, cybersecurity, telecommunications, space, quantum technologies and semiconductors.

For her part, the chair of the Board of Trustees, Montserrat Guàrdia, highlighted the importance of joint innovation at a pivotal moment on a global scale. Guàrdia stressed that “the UPC is a university of action” and referred to the Board of Trustees’ commitment to supporting the institution in its efforts to make the world a better place.

For her part, the director of the ETSECCPB, Esther Real, referred to the opening of the academic year at the School and recalled the figures of Gaudí and Cerdà to emphasise the importance of placing people at the centre of projects, because “innovating means gaining a better understanding of problems and transforming knowledge into solutions that improve people’s lives”. Esther Real stated that innovation begins in the classroom and encouraged students to “make the most of this stage to learn, develop your own judgement and dare to think for yourselves”.

In their speech, the students Pau Argiz and Ivan Hidalgo, representing the student body, described the UPC “as a Catalan, feminist, public university that champions equity, quality in teaching and critical thinking, which is essential in the age of AI”.

A leading civil engineering school

With more than 50 years of history, the UPC’s Barcelona School of Civil Engineering is an internationally recognised centre for research, knowledge and technology. Many of the engineers trained at this school have contributed to the major transformation that Barcelona and Catalonia have undergone over the past half-century.

It currently offers three undergraduate degrees, 12 specialised master’s degrees, three Erasmus Mundus master’s degrees, two double master’s degrees and eight doctoral programmes. This academic year, the School has more than 1,800 students, over 300 teaching and research staff and 21 research groups.