Octocamvision, a project set up by two young students that provides aerial image and video services by the use of drones, and Iproteos, a firm emerged from the laboratories of IRB Barcelona –locate at the Parc Científic de Barcelona (PCB)– specialized in the nervous system, are two examples of entrepreneurship at the university described this morning on the presentation of the Barcelona Entrepreneurship Institute (BIE).

”

The event, which took place at the Historic Building of UB, was chaired by the rector, Dr Dídac Ramírez, and the president of the Board of Trustees, Salvador Alemany. The director of BIE, Professor Manuel Artís, exposed the objectives of the new centre, which gathers the most active research groups in the field of entrepreneurship of UB and the Bosch i Gimpera Foundation, as well as members of the teaching staff. BIE is a meeting point for research groups, technological centres and companies to foster the growth of the Catalan business fabric.

Other personalities who also participated in the presentation were: the deputy director of BIE, Xavier Testar, the managing director of the Bosch i Gimpera Foundation –based in the PCB–, M. Carme Verdaguer; the director of the Chair in Entrepreneurship of UB, Jaume Valls, and the director of Alumni UB, Jordi Garcia. The speech pronounced by Lucas Carné, from Privalia, closed the event that also included the ceremony to confer the certificates on the students of the course Entrepreneurial Initiative, organised by the School of Industrial Organization together with UB.

Throughout the presentation of BIE, the spin-off Octocamvision was described; it is a project designed by two young entrepreneurs when they were still students. At the beginning, they focused their activity on aerial images services by the use of drones. But now, they also product devices (camera stabilizers and dronesdesigned to measure according to the client’s needs) and offer a great range of aerial image and video services that contribute, for instance, to the work developed by architects and to obtain images of leisure and cultural activities. The creators of Octocamvision explained that they doubled the number of projects developed between 2012 and 2013, and they expect to double the figure again in 2014.

Iproteos, a spin-off emerged from the research carried out at the Laboratory of Peptides and Proteins of the Institute for Research in Biomedicine (IRB Barcelona), was also described. In three years, the firm has created eight job positions and is specialized in developing drugs to treat diseases of the nervous system, to be exact schizophrenia and Parkinson’s disease. Iproteos has developed and applies a proprietary technology to develop new drugs for difficult targets. Researcher Teresa Tarragó pointed out: “We wanted that the technology developed at the lab was something more than a paper; we wanted to bring it to the market to give solutions to patients’ problems”.

The project Capacita’t is another example of entrepreneurship described at the event. It is developed by two social service workers and it is focused on those people who are diagnosed with a mental disease, or as entrepreneurs say, “people with mental diversity”. The main goal of the project is to help these people to improve their quality of life and increase their autonomy and ability to make decisions, by means of group work and the promotion of social and interpersonal relationships. This project is an example of the support BIE gives to social entrepreneurship, which is one of the two main lines of the new centre, directed by Dr Virgínia Ferrer, commissioner for Participation, Employability and Social Entrepreneurship of UB.

Some of the objectives of BIE are to guide and support entrepreneurial initiatives set up by students, former students and teaching and research staff. Its development areas include business creation support; external relations and collaboration with entrepreneurial public and private agents; entrepreneurship training, research and communication, and the promotion of entrepreneurial talent.

For further information [+]