Research news
List of news published in the Press Room on research and innovation
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Students from ESADE, IED and the UPC present prototypes and solutions to improve urban mobility at CERNS
Eight teams of students from the UPC —of the Barcelona School of Telecommunications Engineering (ETSETB)—, from Esade and IED Barcelona have presented, at the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN), at Geneva, their projects and prototypes the projects and prototypes created to improve the sustainable development of the cities through the urban mobility, challenge faced in this year's edition of the Challenge Based Innovation (CBI).
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Nearby Computing, a spin-off from the BSC and the UPC, completes a funding round
Cellnex, Elewit and Lenovo have led a funding round in Nearby Computing, a spin-off from the Barcelona Supercomputing Center and the UPC specialising in edge computing and 5G networks. The two million euros raised in this seed round will support the company’s growth by boosting its global sales.
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Exploring connections between AI and music: Sónar and the UPC introduce the #ThinkingLab
On Thursday 13 May, a panel of groundbreaking artists and leading experts in artificial intelligence have explored the connections between AI and music in a live-streamed event and that has marked the first activity of the #ThinkingLab created by Sónar and the UPC, ahead of the S+T+ARTS AI and Music Festival that is taking place in Barcelona this autumn.
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Climate change adaptation plan for ports of general interest in the Balearic Islands submitted and prepared by the LIM of the UPC
The plan commissioned by the Port Authority of the Balearic Islands (APB) proposes adaptation measures and pathways to prevent possible risks from the rise in sea level as a result of climate change.
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UPC researchers coordinate the creation of a compact magnetic sensor to reduce noise on large space missions
The UPC’s Space Science and Technology Research Group (CTE) has coordinated the development of a compact and low-power magnetic sensor to reduce noise based on magnetic field modulation using microelectromechanical resonators (MEMS). Created jointly with the ICE-CSIC and the ICCUB, it is the result of the MELISA project, promoted by the Institute of Space Studies of Catalonia (IEEC), and will serve as a sample to validate the feasibility of this technique on the LISA mission of the European Space Agency (ESA) to detect gravitational waves in space.
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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.
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The UPC shines at the 2024 MWC
The UPC once again shone at the Mobile World Congress (MWC Barcelona) with its own stand, where it presented an AI-based application for diagnosing malaria, smart fabric with applications in healthcare, a non-invasive device for monitoring animals’ cardiovascular systems and a virtual assistant for applying for social assistance from your mobile device, to name a few.
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The UPC’s Gaudí Chair has inventoried 18% of the content for the Gaudí Digital Archive and digitised 11% of the material it will contain
The Gaudí Chair of the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC), a documentation and research centre located at the Barcelona School of Architecture (ETSAB), offered a presentation on the current status of the Gaudí Digital Archive, which will serve as a single, extensive, hyper-connected catalogue focusing on the work of Antoni Gaudí and other architects, as well as architecture and urbanism studies in the 19th and 20th centuries. With a collection of 147,000 items – including drawings, designs, photographs, objects and bibliographic material of great heritage value – the Gaudí Digital Archive will be accessible to researchers and the public online.
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The NTU Ranking places the UPC among the top 125 universities in the world in engineering
The UPC is in 445th place in the world in the latest edition of the Performance Ranking of Scientific Papers for World Universities, published by the National Taiwan University (NTU), also known as the NTU or Taiwan Ranking. The UPC is 122nd in the world in the field of Engineering and has maintained its position among the top 100 universities in the world in the subjects Electrical Engineering, Mathematics, Civil Engineering and Computer Science.
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The EIT Innovation Community in Urban Mobility is presented in Brussels
On 24 January the European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT) presented in Brussels the EIT Innovation Community in Urban Mobility, headquartered in Barcelona, with the UPC as one of its technology partners.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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).
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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.
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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.
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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.