On 18th of November 2024, the Universidad Católica San Antonio de Murcia (UCAM), through its innovation and business acceleration hub UCAM HiTech, which belongs to the High Technology Incubators Network of the Incyde Foundation, has signed a collaboration agreement with PATIO Innovation & Startup Campus. This agreement seeks to promote open innovation and technology transfer in areas such as health, sport and food, thus strengthening the entrepreneurial ecosystem at a national level.

PATIO Campus is a non-profit initiative promoted by eight major corporations – BMW Group España, Iberia, Inditex, L'Oréal Groupe, Mahou San Miguel, MERLIN Properties, Moeve (formerly Cepsa) and Pascual – and the sponsorship of the Community of Madrid, which has become a benchmark campus for entrepreneurship, open innovation and sustainability. Based in Madrid, PATIO aims to position the city as a destination for emerging companies and start-ups from Spain, Portugal and Latin America, creating synergies and promoting projects with a positive impact on society.

This agreement between UCAM and PATIO establishes a collaboration framework for the development of joint initiatives that promote technology transfer and scientific entrepreneurship, involving companies, universities and other key players in the ecosystem. Within the framework of this agreement, there will be activities such as high-impact events that bring together scientists, entrepreneurs and corporations, as well as training programmes in emerging technologies and the promotion of open innovation together with the large corporations associated with PATIO.

María Dolores García, UCAM President, and Borja Marinas, CEO of PATIO Campus, have signed this agreement at the Murcia Campus of the Universidad Católica de Murcia. During the signing, they highlighted the importance of the collaboration between the two institutions to strengthen the innovation and technology transfer ecosystem in Spain. ‘This alliance with PATIO Campus strengthens innovation in health and sport, enabling our researchers to collaborate with large corporations to create impactful solutions,’ said Carlos Caballero, director of UCAM HiTech.

Meanwhile, Borja Marinas pointed out that ‘the incorporation of UCAM into the PATIO Campus ecosystem is a key agreement to collaborate and enrich the research processes of the university, foster the creation of collaborative networks with the corporate sector and generate an innovative space of mutual support that promotes the creation of new science and technology-based companies in key areas such as health and sport’.

This collaboration between UCAM and PATIO will also contribute to the positioning of the university at a national level as a reference centre for innovation, Deep Tech and technology transfer, while offering development opportunities to science and technology-based entrepreneurs and start-ups. By joining forces, both institutions are committed to creating a framework conducive to open innovation, scientific entrepreneurship and the development of projects with a positive impact on society.

ABOUT UCAM

The Universidad Católica de Murcia was founded in 1996 by José Luis Mendoza Pérez. UCAM began its first academic year with 600 students, and currently has more than 20,000 students from over 100 countries. The University has three main cornerstones: teaching, research and evangelisation, with internationalisation and sport gaining strength thereafter. It has two campuses, in Murcia and Cartagena, as well as several international branches. 

The good work carried out by the institution is reflected in the national and international reference rankings, such as Impact Ranking, Times Higher Education (THE); Quacquarelli Symonds (QS), Fundación Conocimiento y Desarrollo (CyD), Forbes, etc., which certify the educational quality of UCAM, its teaching model, the high employability of its students, its research excellence and its international outreach.

ABOUT PATIO INNOVATION & STARTUP CAMPUS 

PATIO Innovation & Startup Campus is a private non-profit association that arose from the initiative of eight large corporations: BMW Group España, Cepsa, Iberia, Inditex, L'Oréal Groupe, Mahou San Miguel, MERLIN Properties and Pascual; and has been endorsed from its conception by the Community of Madrid as a sponsoring partner. Its aim is to create a collaborative framework for the exchange of knowledge to promote the development and implementation of innovative and sustainable projects with a positive impact on our society. PATIO Campus is, in short, a common space where the main actors in the field of innovation, sustainability and entrepreneurship can share ideas and knowledge; execute projects, participate in innovation and growth programmes; attend networking events and create connections. The common space, that playground, is materialised in its first physical headquarters which is located in the Renazca area of Madrid, (Plaza Pablo Ruiz Picasso, nº 11).