Research news

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

  • The number of summer days in Spain has increased from 90 to 145 in the last 50 years, according to a study by the UPC

    The average temperature in the main Spanish cities has risen by 3.54 °C between 1971 and 2022. The country is among those with the most pronounced climatic anomalies in the world. Over the last 50 years, summer days have increased from 90 to 145, which accounts for a two-month increase in hot days. Tropical nights have jumped by 18, from an average of 45 to 63. These are the conclusions of a study by the Centre for Land Valuation Policy (CPSV) of the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya - BarcelonaTech (UPC).

  • The ACTRIS ERIC platform, of which the UPC is a member, becomes a European infrastructure for atmospheric research

    The European Commission has decided to establish ACTRIS, a research infrastructure that studies the short-lived atmospheric components, as a European Research Infrastructure Consortium. Published on 3 April, the decision places the participating institutions—including the UPC and the BSC-CNS—at the forefront of global atmospheric exploration.

  • The BSC and the UPC develop an AI tool to improve deaf people’s accessibility to technology

    It is an AI tool to convert sign language sentences recorded on video into spoken language in text format. To this end, the researchers have combined computer vision, natural language processing and machine learning techniques.

  • A study demonstrates that heat can freeze fluids in the quantum world

    An international research team has discovered that increasing the temperature of an ultracold fluid can trigger its phase transition to a solid state. The study was recently published in Nature Communication, with UPC researcher Juan Sánchez Baena as first author.

  • The UPC among the world’s top 25 in Architecture and the world’s top 35 in Civil and Structural Engineering according to the QS WUR by Subject

    In the new edition of the QS Word University Rankings by Subject, the UPC is ranked the world’s 22nd in Architecture and Built Environment, and 35th in Civil and Structural Engineering. It is also Spain’s leader in both subjects. The ranking, which analyses indicators related to research and reputation, also features the University as the Spanish leader in the following subjects: Telecommunication, Electrical and Electronic Engineering; Computer Science and Information Systems; Statistics and Operational Research; Art and Design; and Materials Sciences.

  • A low-cost robotic arm created by students as an alternative to conventional prostheses

    The ARM2u biomedical engineering team, from the UPC’s Barcelona School of Industrial Engineering (ETSEIB), is working on new functions for their low-cost 3D-printed transradial prosthesis. In addition to developing technology to control the prosthesis using AI techniques, they are working to create a hand with fingers and add it to the robotic arm. The team is looking for funding to start marketing the prosthesis and for new carriers to test the prototype.

  • ESA BIC Barcelona issues a call to incubate aerospace start-ups

    The ESA BIC Barcelona incubation centre has started operating on the UPC’s Baix Llobregat Campus with a call for space technology and infrastructure start-ups. Promoted by the UPC, the Mediterranean Technology Park and the Government of Catalonia as part of the NewSpace Strategy, the programme will allow up to 18 companies to be incubated over three years.

  • 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.

  • A pioneering open-source platform for the next generation of cloud applications

    The UPC’s Department of Computer Architecture coordinates the European project Vitamin-V, which develops a complete set of hardware-software for cloud services, based on pioneering open-source technologies for RISC-V processors.

  • A device with mobile games and remote medical monitoring for at-home pelvic floor rehabilitation

    As part of the European WOMEN-UP project, the UPC and the Hospital Clínic de Barcelona (Spain), along with the Academic Medical Center (the Netherlands) and Kuopio University Hospital (Finland), will soon carry out the clinical trial of a system designed to improve pelvic floor muscle training, a recommended treatment to prevent or treat urinary incontinence. This technological solution incorporates serious games for mobile phones that are driven by muscle movement and remote medical monitoring through a web platform.

  • Nimble Diagnostics closes a financing round of one million euros

    NIMBLE Diagnostics, a spin-off of the Germans Trias i Pujol Research Institute (IGTP), the UPC and the University of Barcelona (UB), has successfully closed a funding round led by Grow Ventures, together with Namarel Ventures and the Inveniam Group, that has secured more than one million euros. NIMBLE is developing the first medical device to monitor patients with stent implants, thus avoiding serious complications and improving the clinical management of millions of patients each year.

  • UPC researchers design a device to harvest hydroelectric energy from water flowing in pipes

    The UPC’s Barcelona Fluids & Energy Lab and the Centre for Technological Innovation in Static Converters and Drives participate in the European project H-HOPE, focused on developing solutions to harvest green energy from as yet untapped water sources such as water pipes and canals.

  • International scientists warn of the serious impact of noise pollution on marine invertebrates

    An international scientific study, led by the UPC’s Laboratory of Applied Bioacoustics (LAB), shows that noise from human operations at sea damages marine invertebrates and ocean ecosystems. Published in Frontiers in Marine Science, the work points out that noise pollution at sea can even cause death in some marine species.

  • The UPC participates in a marine regeneration project with industrial waste

    The Technological Development Centre for Remote Acquisition and Data Processing Systems (SARTI)—affiliated with the UPC’s EPSEVG —participates in the SEASLAG project, which will provide solutions to fight marine biodiversity loss by developing a new sustainable material for the construction of marine regeneration structures. This material will incorporate by-products from the steel and agri-food industries, thus contributing to circular economy.

  • Researcher Justin Zoppe wins an ERC Consolidator Grant to develop new chiral metamaterials

    The European Research Council has awarded a Consolidator Grant to UPC researcher Justin Zoppe from the Materials Science and Engineering Department to develop new metamaterials for detecting molecular chirality. The researcher will receive funding of two million euros to conduct the study over five years.

  • Neutron star that behaves like a black hole discovered

    An international scientific team including researcher Yuri Cavecchi, from the UPC’s Department of Physics, and led by the Institute of Astrophysics of the Canary Islands has found a neutron star that captures matter from a companion star in a violent and unstable process. This process, previously observed only in very bright black holes, opens the door to new insights into the behaviour of stars. The study is published in the journal Nature.

  • 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.

  • The UPC joins the EIT Manufacturing knowledge and innovation community

    The UPC has joined EIT Manufacturing, Europe’s largest manufacturing innovation network. Promoted by the European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT), it pursues the digitalisation of industry in the context of circular economy.

  • The UPC participates in a €25-million European project to improve the response to climate change-related emergencies

    The UPC’s Centre of Applied Research in Hydrometeorology participates in the European project RESIST, which aims to improve preparedness for weather emergencies and thus increase resilience to climate change. RESIST receives EU funding under the Horizon programme.

  • Barcelona will implement a UPC-designed sustainable construction system

    The UPC’s Architectural Rehabilitation and Restoration (REARQ) research group and the Interdisciplinary Group on Building Science and Technology (GICITED) have developed a construction prototype to extend buildings sustainably that will be tested for a year before being implemented on a large scale in apartment blocks in Barcelona. The 'Regenerar Barcelona' proposal has been selected by the Barcelona City Council.

  • Artificial intelligence for increased navigational safety

    The Centre for Language and Speech Technologies and Applications—part of the UPC’s Intelligent Data Science and Artificial Intelligence research centre—and the CIMNE’s Center for Innovation in Transport participate in the OCEAN project, which aims to increase navigational safety. Researchers from these centres will develop algorithms based on signal processing and machine learning to detect obstacles at sea.

  • Unite! will work with Ukrainian universities on the green transformation of campus

    The Unite! alliance, of which the UPC is a member, will work with Ukrainian universities on developing a green campus model. The aim of the collaboration is to contribute to Ukraine’s post-war reconstruction process and its integration into the European Union.

  • Innovative solutions for muscle injuries, autonomous driving and beach safety at MWC 2023

    The UPC, through the Innovation and Technology Centre (CIT UPC), presents its technological capabilities and cutting-edge projects at MWC Barcelona 2023, which takes place from 27 February to 2 March. Its technology will be shown at the University’s stand in the Catalonia pavilion of the Fira de Barcelona Gran Via venue. At the same time, the UPC will be participating in 4YFN, the innovation ecosystem’s international meeting, which features over thirty technology-based spin-offs and start-ups led by UPC students, alumni and research staff.

  • 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.

  • The UPC and the Castelldefels City Council inaugurate DroneLab, a unique laboratory and flight facility for UAVs

    On 11 November, the Drone Research Laboratory (DroneLab) was opened on the UPC Baix Llobregat Campus in Castelldefels. Pioneering in Spain and Europe, it is a multidisciplinary facility for conducting tests and validating and training UAV-based applications. The new laboratory, which is part of the Mediterranean Technology Park, is intended for research and teaching purposes but also for the business sector.

  • 1-minute exposure to monochromatic light modifies neural connections

    A study led by researchers from the UPC’s Terrassa School of Optics and Optometry (FOOT) shows that 1-minute stimulation with blue, green or red light activates several visual and non-visual brain regions. The study opens new avenues for better understanding the impact of light stimulation on brain function and its use to treat visual dysfunction, depression symptoms, circadian rhythm disruption, migraine and memory or attention disorders.

  • WEAVE spectrograph begins study of galaxy formation and evolution

    More than 500 astronomers from all over Europe, including members of Catalan universities and research centres—the UPC and the ICCUB—have designed and planned a total of five years of operations for the WEAVE spectrograph, a powerful instrument recently installed at the Canary Islands observatory. Combined with Gaia’s measurements, it makes it possible to study a wide range of cases in stellar and galactic science. The first observations show unprecedented aspects of the collision between the galaxies at the heart of Stephan’s Quintet, 280 million light-years from Earth.

  • Power electronics solutions to modernise the power grid

    The UPC’s CITCEA coordinates the European iPLUG project, under the Horizon Europe programme, to develop power electronics solutions to allow a smooth integration of multiple renewable sources, energy storage systems and loads in the distribution grid.

  • ICFO awarded the National Innovation Award

    The award from the Department of Research and Universities of the Government of Catalonia and the Foundation for Research and Innovation of Catalonia (FCRi) recognizes the creation of ICFO’s technology spin-off, LuxQuanta.

  • The UPC participates in the research programme for the future quantum internet

    The new research programme coordinated by the ICFO, in which the UPC and other entities participate, aims to develop technologies for the future quantum Internet.