Research news

List of news published in the Press Room on research and innovation

  • Dyeing irrigation water to study the impact of freshwater on bivalve farming in the Ebro Delta

    A team of UPC and IRTA researchers have developed a model to determine the dispersion of freshwater discharges that reaches the El Fangar bay by using rhodamine, a tracer dye that is water soluble and harmless. The experiment will provide further knowledge on water dispersion, to eventually reorganise aquaculture activities and to apply protective measures in other Catalan regions.

  • Five UPC projects to fight pandemics

    Identifying risk factors that affect the evolution of COVID-19 patients; analysing the transformation of Barcelona into a “fragile” city during the state of alarm; using drones to control capacity at events; implementing measures to increase the resilience of buildings and adapt them to the new requirements for energy consumption and air quality; and transforming cities into resilient, sustainable and healthier places for future pandemics through local agriculture and recycling and waste reduction. These are the UPC projects that have been selected under the AGAUR’s 2020 PANDÈMIES call for grants.

  • A UPC-led project to restore European coasts with natural solutions and blue carbon underway

    The Maritime Engineering Laboratory (LIM) of the UPC is leading a European project to restore the coast and adapt it to climate change. It is a shock plan for the next four years funded by the European Union under the European Green Deal. Pilot projects will be carried out on the Ebro Delta and other locations in the Mediterranean, the Baltic, the Black Sea and the North Sea.

  • Reusing 1 kg of clothing saves 25 kg of CO2 according to a study by INTEXTER

    The UPC’s INTEXTER has conducted a pioneering analysis to calculate the share of fibres used in the clothes that are dumped in textile collection bins. The study uses an innovative methodology and is therefore more accurate than other approaches so far. It is part of a report by Cáritas cooperative Moda re- and the consulting company LAVOLA on the collection of used clothing in Spain.

  • The BSC inaugurates its new corporate headquarters, the BSC-Repsol Building

    The minister for Research and Universities, Gemma Geis; the secretary general for Research of the Ministry of Science and Innovation, Raquel Yotti; the rector of the UPC, Daniel Crespo; the president of the Repsol Foundation, Antonio Brufau, and the director of the BSC, Mateo Valero, participated in a brief ceremony celebrating the inauguration of one of the largest scientific and technological facilities in the city of Barcelona. The new 12,000 m2 facility, at which 530 BSC employees work, is preparing to receive the MareNostrum 5 supercomputer.

  • The UPC among the three best Spanish universities according to the 2021 U-Multirank

    In the 2021 edition of U-Multirank, a European Commission initiative to provide a multidimensional view of universities, the UPC moves up and is ranked as one of the top three Spanish universities.

  • UPCommons remains among the world’s top 20 in the Transparent Ranking of repositories

    The UPC’s open document repository, UPCommons, is ranked the world’s 20th in the latest edition of the Transparent Ranking of repositories. In the ranking of institutional repositories, UPCommons climbs to the 10th place worldwide and is once again the leader in Spain.

  • The UPC continues to be the top Spanish technical university in the latest edition of the THE World University Rankings

    In the Times Higher Education’s 2022 World University Rankings (THE WUR), the UPC maintains its position among the 800 best universities in the world (601-800 band) and continues to be the top Spanish technical university. In the THE WUR by Subject, the UPC is also the top Spanish technical university in Computer Science and Physical Sciences, and shares the first position in Engineering and Life Sciences.

  • The UPC, leader in patent filing

    The UPC is the leading Spanish university in filing patent applications, according to data from the European Patent Office.

  • Three CREB UPC projects receive awards in the 2021 CaixaResearch Validate call

    A 3D game-based platform for virtual training in surgical techniques, new software that aids the mechanical ventilation of patients and a certification for artificial intelligence systems in health are the three proposals of the CREB UPC that have been selected in the “la Caixa” Foundation’s 2021 CaixaResearch Validate call

  • The UPC’s NanoSat Lab demonstrates the feasibility of using nanosatellites to observe the Earth and monitor climate change

    The FSSCat is ESA’s first mission that relies on CubeSats to support the Copernicus monitoring services for land and marine environment of the European Earth Observation programme. The mission won the Sentinel Small Satellite (S^3) Challenge Award of ESA and was honoured as the Copernicus Masters Overall Winner in 2017.

  • The UPC leads artificial intelligence (AI) research and innovation in Catalonia

    The UPC is the most active Catalan entity in artificial intelligence research and innovation according to the report “Analysis of the specialisation in artificial intelligence in Catalonia”, produced by the Government of Catalonia.

  • For the first time in Barcelona, Sónar, the UPC and betevé will organise the AI and Music Festival

    Sónar, the UPC and betevé will host the AI and Music Festival on site in Barcelona and online on 27 and 28 October. Within the framework of the S+T+ARTS programme of the European Commission, the festival will focus on the applications and challenges of artificial intelligence in creating music. Since the end of April, the UPC is leading an applied research laboratory to explore this relationship.

  • The BSC will coordinate Quantum Spain, the Spanish quantum computing ecosystem

    The project includes building and commissioning the first quantum computer in southern Europe. The computer will be operational by the end of 2022 and will be installed at the Barcelona Supercomputing Center–Centro Nacional de Supercomputación (BSC-CNS).

  • 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.

  • The UPC, the best Spanish university in performance according to the U-Ranking

    In the 2021 edition of the U-Ranking the UPC climbs to the top position among Spanish universities in performance together with the UPF and the UC3M. The UPC remains the leader among Spanish universities in teaching and the 3rd in research and innovation. The University is above the Spanish average in almost all the indicators analysed in the ranking and stands out in research and innovation.

  • App based on intangible cultural heritage to prevent memory loss in the elderly

    The UPC’s Soft Computing research group is leading the LONG-REMI project for designing an app for reminiscence therapy. The project is being developed jointly by researchers from the UPC, the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona and the Instituto Politécnico de Coimbra (Portugal).

  • BSC and UPC researchers study mobility in Spain during the COVID-19 pandemic period using data from the Facebook and Google apps

    The work demonstrates how the correct use of these data can provide a detailed interpretation of mobility, for epidemiological and socio-economic analysis. In retrospect, the confinement measures applied and their duration were adequate for the situation and evolution of the pandemic in Spain.

  • 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.

  • Extrasolar flares detected by using the GPS

    Manuel Hernández-Pajares, a researcher from the Department of Mathematics at the UPC, and David Moreno-Borràs, an alumnus of the Barcelona School of Informatics (FIB), have developed a system that detects stellar flares - sudden increases in star radiation - by using the signals emitted by satellite navigation systems, popularly known as GPS.

  • The UPC among the 100 best universities in the world according to ShanghaiRanking’s Global Ranking of Academic Subjects

    The UPC maintains its position among the 100 best universities in the world in eight subjects and it is the top Spanish university in seven subjects in the 2020 ShanghaiRanking’s Global Ranking of Academic Subjects (GRAS).

  • UPC, Vall d’Hebron and UAB researchers design an app to help assess the severity of symptoms in chronic fatigue syndrome

    The technology uses a chest strap connected to a mobile app that measures heart rate variability. Researchers have shown that heart rate variability is related to the severity of fatigue in women with chronic fatigue syndrome/myalgic encephalomyelitis.

  • The UPC’s scientific activity in Architecture, Engineering and Computer Science stands out in Spain

    In the 2021 edition of the IUNE Observatory ranking, the UPC is ranked 1st among Spanish universities in scientific activity in five indicators for Architecture, Engineering and Computer Science. It is also the institution with the highest percentage of documents cited in the aggregated result of all the areas of knowledge analysed.

  • Studying how to reduce the impact of maritime transport noise on marine species

    The UPC’s Laboratory of Applied Bioacoustics (LAB) participates in the European project SATURN, an initiative that brings together partners from ten countries to develop innovative solutions to reduce the negative effects of underwater noise on the ecosystem and move towards a cleaner and quieter maritime sector.

  • Digital twins for a more efficient, reliable and safe construction industry

    Researchers from the UPC’s Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, which is linked to the Barcelona School of Civil Engineering, are leading one of the work packages of the European project ASHVIN, an initiative that aims to make a more efficient, reliable and safe European construction industry by using digital twins. The project is already being implemented on a bridge on the Plasencia-Badajoz high-speed line and in several buildings in Barcelona.

  • A UPC study shows that human-generated noise can contribute to deplete seagrass posidonia populations

    When exposed to human noise, specimens of the seagrass Posidonia reveal permanent and severe lesions in their sensory organs—whose function is to sense gravity—that threaten their survival. This is the main conclusion of a recent study by the Laboratory of Applied Bioacoustics (LAB) of the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya · BarcelonaTech (UPC), entitled “Seagrass Posidonia is impaired by human-generated noise”, which was published in Nature Communications Biology. These new findings demonstrate not only that plants have the physiological ability to perceive sounds, but also, and just as importantly, that commonly encountered sources of noise in the ocean can contribute to depleting their populations.

  • UPC researchers obtain for the first time solutions for a fluid capable of simulating any Turing machine

    Researchers from the UPC’s Geometry of Manifolds and Applications (GEOMVAP) research group and the CSIC’s Institute of Mathematical Sciences have managed, for the first time, to construct solutions for a fluid capable of simulating any Turing machine. The result of the study was published in the journal 'Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS)'.

  • UPCommons among the world’s top 20 open document repositories

    The UPC’s open document repository, UPCommons, is ranked the world’s 20th in the latest edition of the Transparent Ranking of repositories. In the ranking of institutional repositories, UPCommons climbs to the 11th place worldwide and is once again the leader in Spain.

  • More investment for the UPC spin-off Cebiotex to advance its oncology treatment

    A 2.2 million euros investment will allow the biotech Cebiotex - a spin-off from the Sant Joan de Déu Hospital and the UPC - to continue clinical trials with CEB-01 in adult patients and initiate trials in pediatric oncology patients.

  • BIOCOM-SC: keeping a close eye on COVID-19

    For over a year now, the UPC’s Computational Biology and Complex Systems Group (BIOCOM-SC) has been working steadily, studying the data and making forecasts about the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic in Catalonia and Europe. A key task that has highlighted the value of science and technology and the need to make knowledge available to society.