By Grupo Zeta.

Can you combine university tradition and innovation? The answer is yes. With thesupport of Santander Bank, Universidad Pontificia de Salamanca has promoted theUniversity Innovation Club (CUI), also known as the HUB of Innovation UPSA-BancoSantander.

This initiative allows students, researchers, and companies to benefit from the infrastructure and money that the two have made available for them to develop their ideas. The CUI is a meeting point between companies, students, and institutions, where talent, creativity, and technology are exchanged with the goal that in the future they are present in society.

How does it work?

Three phases of work are established in the CUI. First, the innovation phase, where contests are convened in order to promote innovative ability and participation of the students in the creation of new ideas. “Anyone can participate, from professors who innovate through teaching style, to students, or any economic representative in the city of Salamanca,” says Pedro Sangro, Vice dean of Research and Titles at the Universidad Pontificia de Salamanca.

In addition, initiatives related to the transfer of ideas in society, whether applications, designs or projects, are rewarded. Resources are also available for research plans that involve collaboration with companies.

The last line of work is entrepreneurship. With it, students are urged not just to gain employment, but to work for themselves as freelancers or entrepreneurs. Allowing them to manage their own companies, with an emphasis on technology.

Current Projects

There are several CUI projects that were awarded in 2018:

• Infinite experience. ​ Consists of intergenerational online meetings in which the older generations can feel acknowledged and pass on their wisdom to others. The main goal is to bring together knowledge and information.
• Chidwi. ​A language exchange application that connects young people of all nationalities who live in the same city or in other countries. This way they can improve their language skills in a novel way.
• Plus Nutrition. ​A price comparison product for sports nutrition products of different providers. The program guides and helps you to make the best decision.

“It’s about giving a small prize to creative people,” concludes Sangro. In addition to the economic payoff, they are given spaces for to present and work, and the projects disseminate into the media. All this in order to build something useful for society.