ALBA Synchrotron and ESADECREAPOLIS, new members of the Hub b30

A little over a year after its founding, the Hub b30 platform opens up to incorporating new research, development and innovation agents from the B30 region, which covers 23 municipalities located in the region surrounding the AP7 and AP2 motorways. The objective is to incorporate new members which can jointly offer innovative proposals based on interaction and collaboration, within an environment of coideation and cocreation, with multiple disciplines and sectors, all with the aim of improving the competitivity of the B-30 region.

Moving in this direction, Margarita Arboix, Rector of the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB); Javier Lafuente, Vice Rector for Innovation and Strategic Projects at the UAB; Xavier López, General Corporate Director and Director of Operations at Eurecat, and Josep Monràs, President of the Association B30 Area recently signed an agreement with Caterina Biscarri, Director of the ALBA Light Synchrotron and Oriol Alcoba, Director of ESADECREAPOLIS, to include these two entities into the Hub b30 platform.

All members voiced their satisfaction in forming part of the Hub b30 and working together to meet the innovation needs and challenges of institutions and businesses. "Being part of the Hub b30 provides numerous advantages to the university community: from allowing our students to take part in work placement in nearby businesses, to researchers working in applied research", Rector Arboix highlights. "Moreoever, we are able to contribute with our research and innovation capacities and help build up the economic and social fabric", she added.

One the one hand, the incorporation of the ALBA Light Synchrotron represents broadening collaborations with the academic and industrial communities by sharing its synchrotron light lines, which allow visualising the atomic and molecular structures of materials and studying their properties.

On the other hand, ESADECREAPOLIS will be contributing with its capacities to inspire, facilitate and accelerate innovation in businesses as well as detect market opportunities and act as a liaison between innovation systems, business fabrics and the knowledge and capacities characteristic of ESADE.

Through this agreement, all members of the Hub b30 commit to developing projects and activities in matters of innovation, disseminate their activities and projects, and foster debates and the exchange of experiences on all innovation and regional issues affecting the Hub b30.

Since its creation in 2018, the members of the Hub b30 have organised a total of 10 monothematic innovation meetings in sectors such as the food industry, mobility, bioindustry, and big data. More than 650 people have participated in total, all of them stemming from the fields of business, research centres, hospitals and public administration.