Effective collaboration between university and industry

Technology companies need engineers, scientists and digital specialists, but to turn knowledge into results, people are needed who understand markets, strategy, collaboration and innovation. This is explained by Rubén Bonet in the first capsule of the SME Voices – Driving Digital Innovation cycle, an audiovisual series that delves into the relationships between companies and universities and the potential they have.

In the six episodes that make up the series, Bonet reflects on the skills that will be essential for industry, the gap that arises when students enter the labour market, the pace of universities to adapt to market's constant changes, the formulas for collaboration between university and industry, and the role of European initiatives as a point of union between these two sectors.

Born as a spin-off of UPC, Fractus is one of the pioneering companies in the development of antenna technology for smartphones, tablets and other wireless devices of the Internet of Things. It has a portfolio of intellectual property rights of more than 40 inventions protected through more than 120 patents and patent applications in the United States, Europe and Asia, and develops initiatives that bring the academic and business worlds closer together.

This series of interviews, structured in audiovisual capsules, is part of the commitment of the Digital Merit initiative to share knowledge and resources that help strengthen the business fabric through digitalization. This series of interviews, structured in audiovisual pills, is part of the commitment of the Digital Merit initiative to share knowledge and resources that help strengthen the business fabric through digitalization. The initiative is organized by the Master of Science in Smart, Secure and Interconnected Systems (MERIT), a training program co-financed by the European Union within the framework of the Digital Europe Programme (GA No. 101083531), which is taught at the Manresa School of Engineering (EPSEM) of the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya - BarcelonaTech (UPC), and which aims to promote high-level digital skills in Europe, especially with regard to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).

In addition to the UPC, the Baltic universities Vilnius Tech (Lithuania), Riga Technical University (Latvia) and Tallinn University of Technology (Estonia), two companies, a research center and three technology centers participate in MERIT in the form of an international consortium.