UPC inaugurates RDIT building, incubator for technology-based university/enterprise projects
Located on the Baix Llobregat Campus, in Castelldefels, next to leading research centers like the Institute of Photonic Sciences.
By Biocat
The Polytechnic University of Catalonia BarcelonaTech (UPC) inaugurated their RDIT building yesterday, a new facility of the UPC Park located on the Baix Llobregat Campus (Barcelona). RDIT is a 10,000-square-meter space for technology-based joint university/enterprise projects.
Participants included Catalan Minister for Universities and Research Antoni Castellà, Castelldefels City Councilor for Universities and Deputy Councilor for Sport Albert Sáenz, Rector of the UPC Antoni Giró, and Rector’s Delegate for the UPC Park Francesc Solé.
The facility has four floors for offices and laboratories that can be adapted to companies’ needs, plus a common area to foster networking. RDIT is located in a teaching, research and transfer setting –next to the Castelldefels School of Telecommunications and Aerospace Engineering (EETAC), the School of Agricultural Engineering of Barcelona (ESAB), the Institute of Photonic Sciences (ICFO), the Institute of Geomatics, the Centre Tecnològic de Telecomunicacions de Catalunya and the International Center for Numerical Methods in Engineering (CIMNE)— and 5 minutes from the Airport and 15 minutes from Barcelona.
For the time being, there are three companies located in the new building: Alteraid, which has created a network of sensors to monitor the elderly living alone; On-SunSystems, which markets solar concentration photovoltaic technology, and TechnologyAssistanceBCNA 2010, which develops sensor systems with a wide range of applications.
The UPC has received funding from the Ministry of Science and Innovation under the program of grants for science and technology parks and co-funding from the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) to build the RDIT.
With this latest center, the UPC Park now has six territorial hubs (Terrassa, Barcelona, Viladecans, Castelldefels, Vilanova i la Geltrú and Manresa) and a total of 104,000 square meters of space in various types of centers (for incubation, business development, field work, greenhouses and fab labs). These currently house more than 150 organizations.