The event featured Miquel Soriano, Director General of Universities of the Government of Catalonia; Francesc Torres, Rector of the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya - BarcelonaTech (UPC); Jaume Miralles, Director General of Artificial Intelligence, Efficiency and Data in Public Administration of the Government of Catalonia; Agustín Fernández, Vice-Rector for Digital Strategy; and Neus Cónsul, the UPC’s General Secretary, who hosted the event. Montserrat Guàrdia, Chair of the UPC’s Board of Trustees, also attended.

The event began with a tour of the project’s headquarters, the LEIA UPC building. Formerly known as Nexus I, the building near Carrer Jordi Girona enters a new phase as the epicentre of the UPC’s AI ecosystem, a network that generated approximately €50 million in AI-related knowledge and technology transfer in 2025. The facility will house UPC entities renowned for generating advanced knowledge in AI. These include the Intelligent Data Science and Artificial Intelligence (IDEAI) research centre; inLab FIB, the research and innovation laboratory of the Barcelona School of Informatics (FIB); and ThinkUPC, the University’s digital services provider for public administrations and companies, which complements UPCnet, the provider of internal IT services.

“We need physical spaces that foster symbiosis, allow talent to flow and make advanced AI knowledge generation an everyday reality,” the Rector explained during the launch.

IDEAI-UPC is a leading research centre for artificial intelligence and data science in Spain, boasting the largest number of AI specialisation areas in Southern Europe. With over 80 full-time researchers, 72 permanent senior researchers and 150 doctoral candidates and master’s degree students, the centre drives a significant volume of competitive and technology transfer projects. A key project is UPCxels, a multi-sector data space designed to co-create and co-design data-driven solutions for strategic decision-making, planning and innovation. It offers a secure, regulated environment to test, validate and share data integration in agri-food (Agri-food Data Space-Agrixels), mobility (i-MovE) and logistics.

Another major project from this research centre is DigiPatICS, which developed AI algorithms to improve cancer diagnosis in Catalonia’s public hospitals.

ThinkUPC, the other entity operating from the LEIA UPC building with its 172 professionals, delivers advanced digital services to public administrations and companies, complementing UPCnet’s internal IT support for the University. Key ThinkUPC projects include a comprehensive ecosystem of AI tools for ”la Caixa” Foundation to manage project funding calls, which covers initial preselection, classification and reviewer assignment. They have also developed a reinforcement learning-based AI system for Camper to automate product grid management on their e-commerce platform. Additionally, they designed and developed a production planning optimisation system for Cuétara biscuits with the company Adam Foods.

Meanwhile, inLab FIB, the innovation laboratory of the Barcelona School of Informatics (FIB) also based in the LEIA UPC building, brings over 40 years of experience in multidisciplinary R&D&I projects within the ICT sector. Holding the TECNIO quality seal and comprising a team of around 70 professionals, the lab collaborates closely with companies and public administrations on innovation and digital transformation projects. Some of its AI-driven projects include a police patrol management system for the Mossos d’Esquadra, a system to improve emergency room triage at the Hospital de la Santa Creu i Sant Pau, a system to accelerate microelectronic circuit design for Qorvo and a water consumption reduction system for a meat production plant owned by Friselva.

Artificial Intelligence Strategy at the UPC
The LEIA UPC programme, which drives the University’s AI strategy, establishes the institutional and governance framework for the responsible use of artificial intelligence. Aligned with the 2025-2028 UPC Action Plan, LEIA UPC will lead to major developments across all areas of the University. In his speech, Rector Francesc Torres stated: “AI is already driving the current industrial and social revolution. As Catalonia’s leading technological university, the UPC has a responsibility to be at the forefront of this crucial technology and to address the social and technological changes its use brings.”

The LEIA UPC programme is structured around six core pillars: governance, teaching and students, research and transfer, university management, staff training and technological platform. The programme’s initiatives and projects are featured on the new Artificial Intelligence Portal: www.upc.edu/ia.

In teaching, work has begun on analysing what UPC students expect from AI across all university touchpoints, taking into account the diversity of degrees and backgrounds. Plans include rethinking course content and the degrees themselves, alongside designing a teaching strategy to train students to use AI with the tools already available to them. LEIA UPC also involves developing AI-based tools to enhance learning and teaching.

In research and transfer, the programme plans to design new AI infrastructure and services for researchers, tailored both for conducting research in any field using AI and for researching AI itself.

A wide range of AI infrastructure and services will also be made available to entrepreneurial initiatives by students and teaching and research staff. Additionally, the technology will be integrated into corporate challenges, hackathons and other initiatives targeting students, research groups and companies.

Several projects within the LEIA UPC programme are already underway, including the creation of a proprietary chatbot and AI agent platform for the progressive management and deployment of use cases. Similarly, a new model for application development will be promoted, featuring new vibe coding tools, UX for new applications, agent architecture with RAG, MCP, etc.

AI training for both teaching staff and administrative staff—especially IT staff—constitutes another strategic line, alongside services to guarantee cybersecurity, data privacy, ethical use and the University’s technological sovereignty.

LEIA UPC Academy
The UPC offers comprehensive AI education at bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral degree levels. Starting in May, in collaboration with the BSC AI Factory, it will also offer advanced training programmes to equip new talent with the technical, ethical and legal skills needed to master artificial intelligence. Some UPC schools will award academic credits for these training courses.

From Nexus I to LEIA UPC
Thirty years after its opening, ownership of the Nexus I building has been transferred to the UPC, integrating the facility into the University’s Research and Innovation Park (Parc UPC). This change of ownership follows the original agreement signed between the UPC and the Consorci de la Zona Franca, signed by the then Rector Jaume Pagès and the consortium’s president at the time, Mayor Pasqual Maragall.

The 5,000-m² building previously housed research- and innovation-intensive companies that chose to be located close to the UPC.