On Tuesday 18 May, UIC Barcelona held the second session of the Entrepreneurship series of seminars 2021 titled “Public tools to help you carry out your project”. The round table featured four speakers from different organisations whose ultimate mission it is to provide tools and support to existing business projects and/or help drive and launch business ideas currently under development.

The online event was moderated by Òscar Carbó, director of the Centre for Knowledge Transfer and Research Valorisation at UIC Barcelona, who introduced each of the guest speakers before passing them the floor.

The first presentation was given by the president of Netmentora Catalunya and UIC Barcelona alumni (1997) who studied on the Bachelor’s Degree in Business Administration and Management (ADE), Cristian Rovira. He spoke about the organisation he works for and the services they offer start-ups across Europe run by entrepreneurs of all kinds of companies, both SMEs and multinationals. Rovira also explained that “Netmentora is a European network of collective intelligence and business support. It is an international movement with more than 200 company executives from Catalonia who in 2020 supported 52 entrepreneurs and created 116 jobs”.

Next, Itziar Blasco, head of programmes for start-ups and the MediaTIC Incubator at Barcelona Activa, explained that the Barcelona-based organisation's main focus and mission are “providing advice, training, support and networking opportunities to professionals, entrepreneurial individuals, freelancers and companies”. In addition to these services, they also offer specific support for organisations and projects that form part of the social and solidarity economy. To this Blasco added that “Barcelona Activa helps about 12,000 people each year and tries to support all types of entrepreneurs at all stages of their company’s value process”.

Toni Ruiz, technological entrepreneurship consultant at Acció, explained the public agency’s daily mission and efforts to increase competitiveness among Catalan companies. They are also affiliated with the Department of Business and Knowledge of the Generalitat of Catalonia. According to Ruiz, Acció’s objective “is to help Catalan businesses grow and become more competitive by promoting innovation and business internationalisation”.

Finally, Joan Plana, business development manager at Aset Solutions, explained what type of business projects the consultancy works with. Plana stated that ASET “is dedicated to comprehensively managing public grants specialised in research activities, development and innovation of technological projects. We also have a great deal of experience in the field of information and communication technologies and biotechnology.”

The Entrepreneurship series of seminars 2021 is an initiative organised by Alumni & Careers, the Corporate Development Department and the UIC Barcelona Vice-Rectorate for Research, Innovation and Knowledge Transfer.

The series of seminars and round tables taking place throughout 2021 is aimed at encouraging entrepreneurship among the university community by promoting success stories. This is an entirely online event and is free for anyone who wishes to join.

Co-financed by: