UCAM becomes a pioneer in this initiative by being the first university in the country to promote a program of Industrial Doctorates. This program gives thirteen students the opportunity to develop their doctoral these in companies within the region of Murcia, which in turn increases companies´own potential for investigation and innovation.

The inauguration ceremony of the first of such programs included representatives of several companies as well as UCAM President, José Luis Mendoza, the dean of the University: Josefina Garcia Lozano, the vice-dean of Research and Investigation: Estrella Nuñez, and the Managing Director and Executive Director of ITM; José Carmona and Juan Hernández.

UCAM´s President highlighted the importance of this program "as a means of generating jobs for recent graduates and encouraging innovation and investigation within Murcia´s business sector".

Some of the firms participating on this programs include Estrella de Levante; AMC Innova, HERO, Avanza Corporate Consulting; Centro Tecnológico del Metal; Ingeniatic Desarrollo; Nutrafur; Villapharma Research; Digimaster; Ingeniería de Sistemas Aplicados; Disfrimur; Vegytech Biotecnología.

The above mentioned firms were in agreement regarding the importance of closer ties between universities and business which had not been prevalent up until now. Estrella Nuñez, vice-dean of Research and Investigation was excited that "UCAM has succeeded in establishing a sunergy between students and business so that we are aware of what the latter requires from the former".

UCAM is the first university in Spain to promote a program of Industrial Doctorates. The University will cover 50% of the salary of the researcher and of the tuition fee of the Doctorate. It will also offer the services and experience of its doctorate professors and researchers who will assess and tutor their students in their final projects. In addition the UCAM will make available its most high-tech equipment, laboratories and infrastructure. The result of this profect for the researcher will be achieving the title of doctor with the mention of "Industrial Doctorate" from the Catholic University of Murcia, and for the company, the participation in a strategic I+D+i project to improve their competitiveness.