The Universitat Internacional de Catalunya (UIC Barcelona) celebrated the grand final of the Startup Pioneer Programme (SPP) (previously Entrepreneurship Day): the competitive project that allows students to launch their business or social impact project. This edition was attended by Gerard Olivé, co-founder of Antai Venture Builder; Josep Graells, president of Vallformosa, and Andrés Echecopar, managing partner of BCombinator.

The Startup Pioneer Programme, promoted by the Faculty of Social and Economic Sciences and the Innovation Hub, encourages entrepreneurship in all UIC Barcelona students regardless of faculty and sector, making it a cross-disciplinary element within the University. Students have mentors throughout the creation process that allow them to connect with the entrepreneurial ecosystem of Barcelona and Catalonia and become familiar with the process of developing a business idea.

In a round table moderated by Business Administration lecturer Juanjo Marin, students were able to learn about the different phases and entrepreneurial growth of Vallformosa, Antai and BCombinator. “A key element in the entrepreneurial process is to understand  and share the same values with the people you are undertaking a project with,” Olivé recommended. Echecopar from Bcombinator, recommended patience for students who want to begin a project: “There are entrepreneurship opportunities at every stage of life, not all entrepreneurial processes come at the same time and in the same way.” Finally, Josep Graells highlighted the need for basic sectors to experience transformation processes. “Each company has a different path, and the different visions it receives are what transform it.”

22 projects were presented in the programme with a total of 84 students. In the for-profit category, the winning group was the project “Got a ride?”(Carola Baldacci, Marco Vanera, Paolo Deamicis, Lucrezia Valente and Andrea Montacchini), while in the non-profit category the winning group was “Crystal Gene Therapeutic - CollaSwitch” (Venus Rubio, Xenia Vidal Ortiz, Laura Montalvo Simon, Aina Rodriguez and Constanza María Trueba Ponce.

 

The event was introduced by the rector of UIC Barcelona, Alfonso Méndiz, who took the opportunity to thank and congratulate the participants for their projects “that address sustainability, humanity, solidarity and all align with the motto of our university: Driving Values Forward”.

The dean of the Faculty of Social and Economic Sciences, Marta Mas, closed the event by highlighting the role of the Startup Pioneer Programme: “This programme shows our university’s commitment to promoting entrepreneurship. We give students tools to facilitate entrepreneurship that generates a positive impact on society.”