Education, at all levels, is one of the main tools for social, cultural, and economic progress. FemCAT is committed to higher education and research, which is an aim in itself and at the same time a measure of human development and of the creative ecosystem. FemCAT is involved with the Catalan public university system in various initiatives that have evolved as both parties deemed appropriate.
Between 2011 and 2014 we carried out ten editions of visits to companies by professors from eight Catalan universities, involving 27 companies with a total of 675 university participants and 141 from the business world. The goal was to promote mutual knowledge between the university and business worlds, within a program that provides the academic personnel with first-hand knowledge of the challenges and situations faced by Catalan businesses. It also provides businessmen and women with a detailed vision of university facilities and projects.
The company visits culminated in technology transfer meetings, in which transfer experts put companies in contact with research group managers who could provide solutions to previously communicated business challenges. This initiative succeeded in launching various collaborations between the participating research groups and companies.
After the latest round of company visits, the methodology for technology transfer that was developed continued in the Demand Forum, organized within the framework of the Festival of Science and Technology, in collaboration with the Barcelona City Council and the Parliament of Catalonia. Subsequently, the Open Innovation Forum (www.openinnovationforum.cat), an open innovation program promoted by the main Catalan universities, has given way to the opportunity for companies to launch their innovation challenges and for research centers and groups to propose solutions to these problems.