Last week, the Region of Murcia became the epicentre of scientific and technological innovation with the LifeTech Summit, the flagship event of UCAM HiTech, the innovation and business acceleration hub of the Universidad Católica San Antonio de Murcia, which belongs to the High Technology Incubator Network of Fundación INCYDE. This edition has brought together more than 100 start-ups, investment funds and corporations, once again exceeding the threshold of 1,000 strategic meetings.

During two intense days, UCAM HiTech has welcomed emerging companies in the seed phase —more than 80%— of which 60% belong to the health sector and eight out of ten come from outside the Region. All of them share a common goal: securing funding totalling more than €85 million, of which €25 million has already been committed.

Among the solutions presented were pioneering technologies such as digital rehabilitation platforms with artificial intelligence for musculoskeletal injuries, cellular diagnostics for the early detection of sepsis, and systems that combine biometrics and AI in the healthcare field. Advances in echocardiography with automated analysis have attracted particular interest, reflecting investors' growing interest in scalable solutions with a real impact on people's lives.

María Dolores García, UCAM President, stressed the importance of the event as a generator of scientific business fabric in the Region: ‘These types of meetings are a great opportunity for business development in the scientific field. It is a great joy to see how the projects that have participated in previous editions have matured, consolidated and returned in search of new rounds of funding.’

Joaquín Gómez, Director of the Murcia Region Development Institute, also spoke at the opening ceremony, stating that the LifeTech Summit ‘positions the Region as a technological entrepreneurship ecosystem with great international projection’. He also highlighted that ‘Murcia is now the second region in terms of the number of technology-based innovative companies thanks to the promotion of pioneering policies and public-private partnerships’.

Meanwhile, Carlos Caballero, Director of UCAM HiTech, pointed out that ‘the LifeTech Summit is not just an event, it is a real platform for connecting science, capital and purpose. Here, ideas are translated into meetings, partnerships and funding’. He added that ‘one of the great challenges is to attract private investment in the early stages of scientific projects, and this forum has become a key space for achieving that’.

The programme included one-to-one meetings, networking sessions and two round tables. The first, entitled ‘From paper to market: science that interests funds’, brought together representatives from BeAble Capital, Clave Capital, Fundación Botín and Capital Cell, who discussed how to attract investment to applied science. The second, ‘From failure to success: lessons for effective transfer’, featured experts in technology transfer and industrial property such as Herrero & Asociados, CMG MedDev and LETSLAW.

Beyond investment, the LifeTech Summit has served as a showcase for strategic initiatives promoted by UCAM to transform knowledge into real change. Through the Venture Studio, the university supports researchers from the initial idea to the creation of viable companies, following international models. This work is complemented by Coral (www.thecoral.net), the online scientific entrepreneurship community created in collaboration with Celera, which already connects more than 1,000 researchers and entrepreneurs.

With this edition, the LifeTech Summit consolidates its position as the largest university forum in southern Europe dedicated to investment in scientific start-ups, reinforcing the role of UCAM and the Region of Murcia as leaders in the creation of an innovation ecosystem with a global impact.