Màrius Rubiralta, rector of the Universitat de Barcelona (UB, University of Barcelona), Senén Barro, rector of the University of Santiago de Compostel·la (USC), and Emilio Botín, president of the Santander Bank, have signed an agreement in Santiago de Compostel·la through which to develop an international network of university incubators, the initial nucleus of which will comprise the bioincubator of the UB, at the Parc Científic de Barcelona(PCB, Barcelona Science Park), and UNINOVA, the business incubator at the USC. The University of São Paulo, the Catholic University of Chile and the Technology Institute of Monterrey are also involved in the development of this new network, which will be open to new additions.

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The agreement also establishes Santander Bank’s support of the universities that are promoting this initiative through setting up multidisciplinary teams with the objective to facilitate the transfer of research results to society, particularly in life sciences. The three signatory organizations will start joint projects with other academic institutions in Iberoamerica. These projects will lead to the development of at least 100 university spin-offs in the next 5 years. The UNESCO Professorship on business initiatives, located at the USC, will also operate as a centre for the activities developed by the three organizations, with the aim to establish a new network of professorships on business initiatives.

The UB will join UNINVEST SGECR, which includes 45 campuses, 600 faculties and research institutes, 500,000 students, 40,000 researchers-professors, 3,300 research groups and 18 transfer offices for research results. The UB has initial funding of 18.5 million euros, and is supported by reference business groups and public financing agencies —such as ENISA and Axis, the capital risk company of the Institut de Crèdit Oficial— and private banks, among these the Santander Bank, which provides 3 million euros through the Santander University Programme.

Collaboration of the Santander Bank with the UB
Several activities undertaken by the UB have received funding from the Santander since 1997. Thank to this collaboration agreement, which was renewed in October, the bank participates in the development of projects dealing with incubation, evaluation, and entrepreneurship, through the Innovation Centre of the Bosch i Gimpera Foundation, the PCB, the Agency for Assessing and Marketing Research Results (AVCRI), organisations set up by the UB to promote collaboration between the university and society. The Santander Bank, through the Santander University Programme, also participates in other projects undertaken by the UB, such as the development of its virtual campus and the “Som UB” project.