Research news

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

  • The UPC’s CD6 completes construction of a pioneering optical system for the world’s largest telescope

    The UPC’s Centre for Sensors, Instruments and Systems Development (CD6) in Terrassa, alongside IDOM Engineering, has finalised the design and construction of the optical system that will calibrate the Extremely Large Telescope’s (ELT) main mirror. With a 39-metre diameter, this primary mirror is currently the largest in existence. The ELT will be the world’s largest ground-based optical and near-infrared telescope. It is currently under construction at an altitude of over 3,000 metres on Cerro Armazones in Chile’s Atacama Desert.

  • The UPC launches the Agri-food Data Space, a 240-company ecosystem paving the way for sector digitalisation

    On 21 April, the UPC presented the Agri-food Data Space, a secure and interoperable data environment for sharing information to facilitate innovation and digitalisation in the agri-food sector. This data space, which already includes cooperatives, companies, technology centres and government bodies from across Spain, will help transform agricultural management, reduce costs, anticipate risks and create new opportunities.

  • Do you want to accelerate your business or prepare it for investment?

    New call—running until 15 July—of this programme for the students, recent graduates and academic staff at the UPC who have founded a start-up or spin-off. With the support of Fractus and the Fractus-UPC Deep Tech Hub.

  • Dialogue between Ignasi Terraza’s piano and a UPC-created AI system to open Sónar+D

    On Thursday 18 June at 10.30 a.m., renowned jazz pianist and UPC honorary doctoral degree holder Ignasi Terraza together with ETSETB and FIB professor Philippe Salembier will open Sónar+D with ImprovIA. This duo improvisation concert features an artificial intelligence system developed at the UPC that creates musical responses based on the sound of the piano.

  • The UPC unveils a leading scientific infrastructure in Spain for testing 6G technologies in real-world conditions

    On 8 April, the UPC unveiled 6GLabNet, an autonomous experimental network designed to test and validate next-generation mobile communications technologies and services in real environments. Serving research, teaching, public administration and industry, the infrastructure is a cutting-edge scientific facility in Europe and a key asset for accelerating innovation in 6G technology with artificial intelligence.

  • British minister Angela Eagle visits the Baix Llobregat Campus to learn about the UPC’s potential in agri-food technologies

    UK Minister of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Angela Eagle visited several facilities on the UPC’s Baix Llobregat Campus in Castelldefels on 22 April. The aim of the visit was to gain first-hand insight into the University’s potential in agri-food technologies, under the umbrella of the Agri-Food Technology Specific Research Centre, and to explore new opportunities for international cooperation.

  • UPC and Hypatia Mars scientists take to the skies to research the effects of zero gravity on health and the brain

    On 8 and 9 May, the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya - BarcelonaTech (UPC) is conducting a new series of parabolic flights at Sabadell Airport. These microgravity experiments involve six female scientists: nutritionist Abril Gorgori and five members of the Hypatia Mars team. They will supervise on-board experiments to analyse the human body’s reaction to weightlessness.

  • Oceanoise2026, from 25 to 29 May, in Vilanova i la Geltrú

    This leading scientific conference is dedicated to the study of underwater sound and its impact on marine ecosystems. This year’s event, which has more than 200 participants from 24 countries, is organised by the Laboratory of Applied Bioacoustics.

  • 168 UPC researchers feature in the CSIC women scientists ranking

    The latest edition of the ranking of Spanish and foreign female researchers working in Spain, compiled by the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC), includes 168 UPC professors. The ranking classifies female scientists with an h-index of 18 or higher on Google Scholar.

  • BSC inaugurates its third quantum computer, EuroQCS-Spain, in the renovated Torre Girona chapel

    Co-funded by the European Commission and the Government of Spain, this new infrastructure is integrated into MareNostrum 5, making it one of the few supercomputers in the world that combines classical computing and analogue and digital quantum computing in a single platform and software.

  • Unmasking the microscopic fingerprint in finite-temperature features of a one-dimensional Bose gas

    A team of researchers from the UPC in Barcelona and the EPFL in Lausanne have built a new theory to explain finite-temperature properties in terms of microscopic excitations of bosons in one dimension.

  • Tuberculosis has shaped human society since the Stone Age

    Researchers from the Germans Trias i Pujol Research Institute (IGTP), the Comparative Medicine and Bioimage Centre (CMCiB-IGTP), CIBERES and the UPC have discovered, by means of a mathematical model that combines biological, anthropological and historical data, that not only have humans continued to survive despite tuberculosis infections, but tuberculosis has probably played a key role in shaping human society as we know it. The article has been published in the journal Scientific Reports.

  • 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.

  • Transforming the construction sector towards a circular economy: DISCOVER, a new project led by the UPC

    The UPC leads the European project DISCOVER, an innovative initiative to reduce construction and demolition waste through artificial intelligence technologies, advanced robotics and building information modelling (BIM). With the aim of transforming the sector into a more sustainable and efficient model, DISCOVER focuses on material reuse and the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions.

  • Launch of CYBERCAT, an interuniversity research centre for cybersecurity and data privacy

    The Cybersecurity Research Centre of Catalonia (CYBERCAT) was presented in Barcelona on 8 May. It was set up by seven research groups from six Catalan universities, among them the UPC’s Information Security Group (ISG) and Mathematics Applied to Cryptography (MAK) group. CYBERCAT is intended to become a reference centre that combines the knowledge of all the research groups working in cybersecurity in Catalonia, with over a hundred researchers. The other participating universities are the UAB, the UdL, the UOC, the UPF and the URV, which is the coordinator.

  • The Vallès School of Architecture presents a construction prototype made from corn and sunflower stalks

    The Interdisciplinary Group on Building Science and Technology (GICITED), linked to the UPC’s Vallès School of Architecture (ETSAV), participates in the cross-border project SAVASCO, which aims to develop new bio-based materials to minimise the environmental impact of construction. In this context, the ETSAV has developed a sustainable building prototype made from corn and sunflower stalks, which was presented on 6 May.

  • 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.

  • The UPC is contributing to the fight against COVID-19 with several research projects and 3D printing of medical supplies

    In response to the COVID-19 health emergency, UPC research groups and centres are working on several scientific projects to tackle the spread of the virus. Additionally, a number of professors, researchers and students are sharing their knowledge and 3D-printing equipment to make masks, respirators and face shields for hospitals.

  • UPC technology at the 2022 Mobile World Congress, from 28 February to 3 March 2022, in Barcelona

    The UPC presents cutting-edge technologies and initiatives applied to a range of sectors at its own stand in this edition of MWC Barcelona, the international conference on mobile technologies that takes place in the Fira de Barcelona’s Gran Via exhibition centre, in L’Hospitalet de Llobregat. The University is also present at 4YFN, a point of reference for entrepreneurship and technological innovation, which is taking place at the same time in the same venue.

  • 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.

  • 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, leader in patent filing

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

  • Using AI to decodeing the mechanisms that enable plants to adapt to climate change

    An international research team led by the UPC has used advanced machine learning techniques to identify, for the first time, the key genes that enable plants to respond simultaneously to multiple forms of environmental stress. The study, published in Nature Communications, presents a new approach to analysing multifactorial stress at the genomic scale and paves the way for designing crops that are more resilient to climate change.

  • LEIA UPC launched to drive the University’s Artificial Intelligence Strategy

    On 22 April, the UPC presented LEIA UPC, its flagship artificial intelligence building located on the North Diagonal Campus in Barcelona. The launch of this innovation hub, which brings together UPC entities with extensive expertise in AI, is part of the eponymous programme underpinning the University’s AI strategy, which was also launched at the same event. The initiative aims to consolidate the UPC’s position as an international leader in this field by boosting research, knowledge transfer and the integration of AI into teaching and management.

  • Safe and Secure Technologies, the new BSC and UPC spin-off that will design chips for critical sectors in which "failure is not an option"

    The Barcelona Supercomputing Center–Centro Nacional de Supercomputación (BSC-CNS) and the UPC promote the creation of their new spin-off Safe and Secure Technologies S.L., which is born with the purpose of designing chips for critical sectors in infrastructure and emergency services, where a system failure could have significant human and economic consequences.

  • Unite! Pioneer Biodegradable Smart Patches for Precision Drug Delivery

    Develop flexible and biodegradable devices for transdermal drug administration, that offer precise and controlled dosing and high comfort and compatibility with a wide range of drugs. This is the goal of a project coordinated by researcher Sílvia Pérez, from the Barcelona Center for Research in Multiscale Science and Engineering (CCEM), which has been funded by the Unite! Seed Fund 2025 program.

  • The TETRAMAX European project to improve technology transfer in ICT

    The Data Management Group (DAMA-UPC) of the UPC is participating in the European project Technology Transfer via Multinational Application Experiments (TETRAMAX), whose goal is to implement the European Smart Anything Everywhere initiative in the field of ICT technologies, particularly those aimed at the internet, in order to promote innovation based on technology transfer experiences.

  • The UPC, a major player in the development of Industry 4.0

    Of students now attending primary school, 63% will end up working in a job that does not yet exist. This disturbing fact is closely related to what is known as the fourth industrial revolution, Industry 4.0, which is transforming industry through a combination of production methods and advanced information technologies to make manufacturing adaptive and flexible. The main challenge is to make all the information available in real time by integrating the entities that make up the value chain.

  • 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.

  • 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.