UCAM HiTech has signed a collaboration agreement with Plug and Play, the world's leading open innovation platform focused on bringing together start-ups, investors and corporations. Founded in 2006 in Silicon Valley, this company is active in more than 50 cities around the world and has agreements with universities such as Harvard, Stanford, HEC Paris, Berkeley, etc. The company currently has an ecosystem of more than 570 multinationals such as Mercedes-Benz, BNP Paribas, Walmart, Nike, Vodafone, among others, relying on its services to be at the forefront of innovation and to adapt to a constantly evolving market.

The aim of this partnership is to foster collaboration between companies and start-ups to expedite the development of innovative solutions in the fields of health, food and sport. To achieve this purpose, UCAM's high-tech incubator and Plug and Play will carry out a series of dissemination events and workshops to encourage collaborative innovation, to support startups in their growth process and to offer specialised services to companies that are looking to develop collaborative projects with new start-ups to accelerate innovation through tangible value creation drivers. In addition, specialised services will be offered in areas such as intellectual property, financing and access to international markets.

Open innovation is about collaboration with external actors to develop new ideas, products and services. This allows a company to leverage the knowledge and experience of others to accelerate their innovation process and remain competitive.

This partnership between the Universidad Católica de Murcia and Plug and Play is further proof of the commitment of both organisations to open innovation and entrepreneurship, as well as a major step in the development of the innovation ecosystem in Spain.

‘We are proud to collaborate in this agreement with a partner like UCAM, given their dynamism and constant commitment to innovation in all areas’, said Rafael Ros, Managing Partner for Spain and Benelux at Plug and Play. ‘We are convinced we can make a great contribution to the innovation ecosystem in Spain, thanks to being the leading innovation platform, the most global and the one that most helps to make innovation tangible’.

Meanwhile, the Director of UCAM HiTech, Carlos Caballero, noted that ‘this agreement is a unique opportunity for our institution and for the entrepreneurial ecosystem of the Region of Murcia and Spain, as it will help us boost open innovation and promote collaboration between companies and start-ups, which in turn will contribute to boosting economic growth and job creation in our region’.

In 2021, the Universidad Católica de Murcia launched UCAM HiTech, a high-tech incubator in health, sport and food, already a national benchmark centre for research and entrepreneurship. The facilities are co-financed by the Incyde Foundation, an institution that also maintains a close collaboration in the field of training, aiming to create and consolidate SMEs and improve the entrepreneurial skills of young people in the Region of Murcia.