Fourteenth CIEU - FEiE Award recognises the UAB university community's entrepreneurial talent
The Faculty of Economics and Business Studies (FEiE) of the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona hosted a new edition of the awards given by the Centre for Entrepreneurial University Initiatives (CIEU), consolidating itself as an important event in which publicly to distinguish emerging talent and innovative projects emerging from the university community.
04/05/2026
The awards ceremony for the 14th CIEU-FEiE 2026 Award to the most entrepreneurial person was held this morning in the conference hall of the Faculty of Economics and Business Studies to reward the entrepreneurial spirit of several students and alumni of the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona in this pioneering contest within the university sector.
The event began with the presentation and welcome of Tatiana López, coordinator of the Centre for Entrepreneurial University Initiatives (CIEU), who highlighted the importance of promoting entrepreneurship among students and generating spaces for connection with the business world.
She was followed by Rosa Maria Sebastián, vice-rector for Innovation, Transfer and Entrepreneurship, who gave the inaugural speech and highlighted the valuable role of the university as a driver of innovation and explained some of the resources that students have to start businesses from university.
Along the same lines, Àlex Rialp, dean of the Faculty of Economics and Business Studies, pointed out the centre's commitment to training professionals capable of leading transformative projects, and highlighted the importance of having incorporated subjects related to entrepreneurship into the degree curricula. He encouraged the public to create their own innovative projects and take advantage of everything offered by the UAB in this regard: "You have many tools and resources to enter the exciting world of entrepreneurship". He added: "As a society we cannot afford to miss out on the luxury of not having a large number of people dedicated to entrepreneurship, because otherwise society would not advance".
Co-founders of TECOUS sharing their entrepreneurial experience with the audience.
TECOUS, the first UAB startup
The ceremony continued with a presentation by Francesc Serras and Víctor de Cubas, co-CEOs of TECOUS, a startup that emerged from the Final Master Thesis of the Master's Degree in Law, based on the idea of simplifying and making more understandable all the legal and regulatory language involved in commercial transactions, or in the acceptance of terms and conditions of any contract.
The speakers explained several steps they followed to be able to create their business idea, to make it a reality, and transform it into products such as apps and plugins to be able to operate in this area and facilitate legal language by making it "more human" and understandable for its users.
The TECOUS entrepreneurs were also grateful for the help offered by the UAB to participate in business creation and acceleration programmes, mentorships and other resources, and to achieve a network of relevant contacts and relationships that allowed them to grow. This even made it easier for them to be invited to present their project at the Mobile World Congress and make it known internationally. They affirmed, in this regard, that they "are the first UAB startup".
Public administrations have also contracted their services to simplify the conditions and terms of their legal texts, such as regulations related to having pets at home, and other issues.
Awards to entrepreneurial talent from the UAB
After their presentation, the awards were handed out to the candidates in the different categories of the contest. The list of awardees is the following:
- In the category for "Hotel Management": Berta Company Vendrell for her project "La Xicra".
- In "Archival and Records Management": Miriam Arévalo Viñas for her work "Open data y memoria histórica. Explotación de las Bases de datos de Fosas Comunes de Cataluña y del censo de desaparecidos de la Guerra Civil".
- In the category of"Prevention and Integral Safety and Security": Pepe Oltra received an award for his project "Safefy".
- In the category of "Tourism": Pilar Benito was awarded for "DANIA", an automation system based on artificial intelligence.
- In the category of "Faculty of Economics and Business Studies": Ion Padilla Méndez was awarded for his project "CycleZen".
- And the "General UAB" award went to Sofia Llàcer Caro, with her initiative "Lyna / Synusia" to encourage and enhance critical thinking with responsible and fair artificial intelligence.
The awards were presented by different institutional and academic representatives from each field, who wished to emphasise the quality and impact of the awarded projects. The winners had the opportunity to share a few brief words, highlighting their motivation and the future goals of their initiatives.
The event ended with a speech by Mariluz Pacheco, deputy executive chair of the UAB Foundation, who stressed the importance of continuing to promote spaces like this to support innovation and entrepreneurship within the university environment, and thanked entrepreneurs for their "effort, courageous attitude and perseverance in following your dreams and contributing to the advancement of society."
Winners of the innovation and entrepreneurship contest.
