University of Barcelona sets up a grant fund to promote innovation and transfer among its researchers

The Fons per a l’Impuls de la Innovació (Innovation Promotion Fund) is the new line of funding established by the University of Barcelona, through Fundació Bosch i Gimpera, to provide funding for the innovation and transfer activities of its researchers. The initiative, which is supported by Banc Santander, has opened a first call with a sum of 155,000 euros and which consists of two modalities: Proof of Concept and Mentor in Residence.

The Proof of Concept (PoC) modality, which aims to prioritise projects with a high transfer potential, offers a grant of 125,000 euros and is open to researchers who lead the technology transfer projects for which funding is requested and in which the UB is owner or co-owner of the knowledge and technology prior to the results.

This call offers a maximum of 25,000 euros for each project, for carrying out Proof of Concept trials in order to improve the opportunity to exploit the research results, to advance in the development of the selected technologies, to bring them to the market and transfer them, whether by means of a license granted to an existing company or by creating a spin-off. The call is open until 15 October.

The second call is for the Mentor in Residence programme, consisting of 30,000 euros, with a maximum of 6,000 euros per project. It is aimed at University of Barcelona researchers who are in the process of creating a company through Bosch i Gimpera or who have already created a spin-off that the CIC-UB is involved in.

The grant will include the contracting of a mentor specialized in the management of entrepreneur projects who will complement the team. In this way it is hoped to create new spin-offs within the UB and to enhance the growth of those with potential that have already been created. The deadline for applying to this call is 15 November.