Research news
List of news published in the Press Room on research and innovation
-
A study on transforming waste paper into secondary raw materials has received the Best Innovation prize
A scientific study on transforming waste paper into secondary raw materials, presented by a UPC team in collaboration with ACCIONA Construcción’s Technology Centre and TECNALIA, has been awarded the Best Innovation prize by the World Road Association.
-
Unite! presents the White Paper on Open Science and Innovation
It provides a university open science and innovation governance model and five policy recommendations for fostering a new university scientific knowledge cocreation and transfer policy.
-
New photonics and AI tools for the diagnosis of ocular, cardiovascular and neurodegenerative diseases
Led by the UPC’s Centre for Sensors, Instruments and Systems Development, an international consortium of universities, hospitals and companies is developing new technologies based on light and AI to improve the diagnosis of several diseases.
-
An oceanographic campaign validates innovative technologies for managing marine ecosystems
The UPC’s Technological Development Centre for Remote Acquisition and Data Processing Systems (SARTI) has participated in a campaign to test novel technologies to enable the deployment of stations and vehicles for monitoring the marine environment and providing real-time data. Experiments were conducted off the Catalan coast up to 350 metres deep as part of the PLOME project.
-
The VIMAC virtually reproduces the architectural evolution of the medieval complex of Barcelona’s Palau Reial Major
The UPC’s Virtual Innovation Laboratory for Modelling Architecture and the City (VIMAC) has performed laser scanning and drawn up the plans of Barcelona’s Palau Reial Major, a work that has allowed researchers to explore and accurately virtually reproduce the architectural evolution of the medieval complex over the five golden centuries of the city as the capital of the Mediterranean, and unveil previously unknown details. The work is part of the virtual historical restitution projected at the exhibition “La metamorfosi medieval, segles XIII-XV” extended until 5 January 2020 at the Tinell Hall in the Barcelona History Museum (MUHBA), on the Plaça del Rei.
-
UPC researchers create an app to monitor outings with children during the lockdown
The Data Management Group (DAMA-UPC) of the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya · BarcelonaTech (UPC) and the spin-off Sparsity have developed the app SafeWalkNearby to help to monitor the distance and the duration of outings with children under 14 to public spaces during the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown.
-
Two UPC cutting-edge research projects selected under the MIT-Spain ”la Caixa” programme
Quantifying vegetation response to climate change with statistical models and studying atmospheric electricity using small uncrewed aerial vehicles. These two projects involving UPC researchers have been selected under the third MIT-Spain ”la Caixa” Foundation Seed Fund, an initiative to foster knowledge and cutting-edge research between Spanish universities and research centres and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in the United States.
-
UPC’s INTE research for improving the detection of radon gas in the atmosphere and soil to monitor its impact on health and climate change
The researchers Claudia Grossi and Arturo Vargas, from the UPC’s Institute of Energy Technologies (INTE), and other European scientists are studying how to improve radon gas measurements in the atmosphere and soil to better control its impact on health and the environment.
-
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.
-
The UPC has conferred an honorary doctoral degree on the Italian mathematician Alessio Figalli
The Italian mathematician Alessio Figalli, who received a 2018 Fields Medal, has been awarded an honorary doctoral degree by the UPC. He is a professor at ETH Zurich and one of the most outstanding mathematicians worldwide today. The Governing Council approved the award, which was proposed by the School of Mathematics and Statistics (FME), on 24 May. The 'honoris causa' award has taken place on Friday 22 November at 11.30 a.m in the auditorium of the Vèrtex building, in Barcelona, and in live on UPCtv.
-
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.
-
Testing a drone to save lives in the Mediterranean
Three students from the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya · BarcelonaTech (UPC) are participating, together with the Hemav Foundation, in the FREEDA project, in which they are developing an offshore reconnaissance drone to search for people and boats. The aim is to improve Proactiva Open Arms rescue missions. The first test to check the operation of the drone on the NGO’s ship was recently carried out offshore from Borriana (Castellón).
-
The UPC’s Baix Llobregat Campus will host the business incubator ESA BIC Barcelona for three more years
The UPC’s Baix Llobregat Campus in Castelldefels will host ESA BIC Barcelona for three more years to accelerate start-ups based on innovative space technologies or infrastructures. The incubator will continue to be located in the RDIT building of the Parc UPC with the support of the Government of Catalonia, the Mediterranean Technology Park, the Baix Llobregat County Council, the Barcelona Provincial Council, the Barcelona Metropolitan Area and the Barcelona City Council.
-
The UPC participated in the 3rd Unite! Dialogue Grenoble and will host the 4th instalment in Barcelona
The UPC, as a partner university of the Unite! alliance, joined the third instalment of the Unite! Dialogue, which took place from 8th to 10th March 2021 in Grenoble. This regular meeting between the members of the alliance and key guests is a great opportunity to strengthen the links and foster further collaboration within the alliance.
-
Leadership of a European project aimed at using ultrasound to produce antimicrobial textiles and devices on an industrial scale
Researcher and professor Tzanko Tzanov, who works on the Terrassa Campus of the UPC, is the leader of the European PROTECT project, which focuses on applying ultrasound technology in the industrial-scale manufacture of textiles and devices coated with antimicrobial nanoparticles. The technology will be used to coat medical textiles, materials used in public areas, medical devices, and water treatment membranes.
-
The European project GEECCO faces the challenge of promoting and increasing the presence of women working in science and technology
The implementation of actions that eliminate barriers to hiring, maintaining and promoting women researchers in science, technology, engineering and mathematics is the objective of the European project Gender Equality in Engineering through Communication and Commitment (GEECCO), carried out by nine European partners, including the UPC.
-
Barcelona will be the European capital of urban mobility, with the UPC as one of the key technological partners
The European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT) has chosen the MOBILus consortium, led by the city of Barcelona and co-partnered by the UPC, to develop one of its innovation communities, in the field of urban mobility.
-
Launch of EIT Urban Mobility in Barcelona to transform European cities into liveable spaces
The city of Barcelona launched the European initiative EIT Urban Mobility at the Smart City Expo World Congress. The event marked the official start of the EIT Innovation Community, which aims to finance projects that contribute to mobility solutions that accelerate the transition towards more liveable urban spaces.
-
Microchips manufactured at the UPC will measure the wind on Mars
The UPC’s Micro and Nanotechnologies Research Group has participated in the design, manufacture and calibration of the wind sensor of the MEDA instrument, which will travel to Mars on board NASA’s Mars 2020 mission to measure wind direction and speed, relative humidity, pressure and properties of suspended dust on the Red Planet. It will be the third time that UPC technology travels to Mars. On this occasion, it is 60 silicon dice that make up the heart of the sensor and that were recently delivered to NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
-
NASA’s InSight probe with UPC technology on board lands successfully on Mars
On 26 November, NASA’s InSight probe landed successfully on Mars with UPC technology on board. Researchers from the UPC’s Micro and Nanotechnologies Research Group participated in the design of the wind sensor that travelled on the probe, which will be the first to record seismic vibrations and measure the flow of heat emitted by the planet’s surface. This information will help determine the planet’s internal composition and how it was formed.
-
A microchip designed at the UPC is on its way to Mars
Researchers from the UPC’s Micro and Nanotechnology Research Group participated in the design of a wind sensor that has been installed in NASA's InSight spacecraft to study the interior of the planet Mars.
-
A new hydrogel developed for desalinating seawater using sunlight and for medical therapies
Researchers from the UPC’s research group Innovation in Materials and Molecular Engineering - Biomaterials for Regenerative Therapies (IMEM-BRT) are working on a thermosensitive hydrogel with several applications, such as the desalination of seawater with solar radiation and the creation of new biomedical adhesives for semi-invasive therapies and for medical diagnosis.
-
The Vall d’Hebron Research Institute, the UPC and Probitas create iMAGING, an AI-based app to diagnose malaria
A multidisciplinary team involving the Microbiology Service of the Vall d’Hebron University Hospital, the Microbiology research group of the Vall d’Hebron Research Institute, the UPC and the Probitas Foundation has developed a novel AI-based diagnostic method for malaria.
-
The UPC launches Connèxia, a new 360° programme to accelerate technology transfer to industry
On 27 October, the UPC presented the Connèxia UPC programme. Aimed at industry, it provides tailored collaboration to connect the University’s technological capabilities with the specific and strategic needs of the productive sector.
-
The UPC celebrates the inauguration of MareNostrum 5, which positions the University as a global benchmark in supercomputing knowledge
Recently, the rector of the UPC, Daniel Crespo, welcomed Catalan president Pere Aragonès and Spanish president Pedro Sánchez to the launch event of MareNostrum 5 at the Barcelona Supercomputing Center–Centro Nacional de Supercomputación (BSC-CNS).
-
Cyber avatars for a new era
The UPC takes part in the Avatar Symbiotic Society, an initiative by the Japanese government to drive the creation of a society in which teleoperated avatars and cyborgs can stand in for individuals in various areas of life. Researcher Alberto Sanfeliu, from the Institute of Robotics and Industrial Informatics (IRI), is the only international member in a team of Japanese researchers led by professor Hiroshi Ishiguro.
-
The UPC opens the Hydrogen Laboratory and the green hydrogen pilot plant
Recently, the UPC opened the Hydrogen Laboratory and the green hydrogen pilot plant on the Diagonal-Besòs Campus. These cutting-edge facilities serve as a living lab to advance research and innovation in hydrogen technologies, a key energy vector in the transition towards decarbonisation. The Laboratory is also supporting industry and training activities.
-
UPC researcher Corrado Altomare receives a Leonardo Grant to study how heavy swell can affect seaside promenades
Corrado Altomare, a Ramón y Cajal researcher at the UPC’s Maritime Engineering Laboratory, has been awarded a Leonardo Grant from the BBVA Foundation to study how episodes of heavy swell, caused by climate change and rising sea levels, can affect seaside promenades.
-
The UPC will coordinate the new interuniversity master’s degree in Semiconductor Engineering and Microelectronic Design
The UPC, the UB, the UAB and the URV, with the collaboration of the IMB-CNM of the CSIC, programs, for the academic year 2024-2025, the new interuniversity master's degree in Semiconductor Engineering and Microelectronic Design, intended for train the next generation of professionals in this field. The master's degree will be taught in English and pre-registration will open in the first semester of 2024.
-
The UPC at the Barcelona Deep Tech Summit
Around thirty companies stemming from the UPC, along with researchers from the University, have presented breakthroughs and transformative trends at the Barcelona Deep Tech Summit, on 28 and 29 November.