Read what past participants said about it
SpinUOC is up and running for a sixth time. SpinUOC is a UOC entrepreneurship and knowledge transfer support programme linked to Hubbik, and this year's call for project proposals is open until 7 January 2018. It is an initiative open to all of the UOC community: students, alumni, course instructors, faculty members, researchers and administrative staff. The eight project proposals selected will receive personalized guidance and will be presented at the final event on 14 June. This year there will be three cash prizes: one for €3,000 and two for €2,000. Furthermore, all projects submitted during the call for proposals will get basic entrepreneurship training. If you have a project you're developing and would like us to help with its growth, all you have to do is provide a brief description in this form.
How past participants rated it
Since 2013 this event has introduced 44 projects to stakeholders and investors. The projects have received personalized guidance on matters such as their business model and how to present themselves to an audience.
"It all started as just something that looked a bit interesting… I said to Jaume [his business partner] 'why don't we enter SpinUOC?' Then they selected us, and that's when it really started getting interesting!" These were the words of José Antonio Lavado, a course instructor on the UOC's Master's Degree in Corporate Social Responsibility and one of those at the helm of eQuàliment, a solidarity food management entity that took part in 2016 (see the presentation). "The support from Hubbik on how to prepare the presentation was amazing! And our belief in eQuàliment helped us to quickly conquer the nerves we had when it was time to get up on stage at SpinUOC. Then the big surprise! The financial support that the UOC and Invergy gave the project, and their up-to-date strategic guidance. What more could you ask for from SpinUOC?" Lavado summarized.
"Winning the prize from the 2017 SpinUOC audience with my Jo també llegeixo (I can read too) project (see the presentation) meant it got a boost I never imagined when I first decided to enter" explained Gemma Fàbregas, who has the UOC's Master's Degree in Multimedia Applications. "All the contacts I made with people and companies who were interested in the project were hugely beneficial, introducing me to a world I was previously unaware of" she added. "The publicity work done by the UOC gave us projection in the media that enabled us to reach future users. Thanks to the UOC, this app designed to help children with Down syndrome to read is now on the verge of getting funding from a major private foundation. If everything continues at the current speed, the app could be available next year" Gemma Fàbregas explained.
Geomotion Games is a company that specializes in educational video games, and was a winner at SpinUOC 2016 (see the presentation). Pau Yánez, a researcher working with the Faculty of Information and Communication Sciences, is one of the people behind it all. He described how "After SpinUOC we were part of the UOC's stand at 4YFN, an international event for tech start-ups at Mobile World Capital Barcelona. This was an opportunity that was key to Geomotion Games' growth, as it gave us a platform to promote our products and services that enabled us to increase our customers and user numbers. Additionally, all the publicity the UOC generated in the media and social media really increased our presence."
Boosting your business ideas together
Would you like the UOC to help you grow your projects like it did for José Antonio, Gemma and Pau? All you have to do is fill in this form by 7 January.
SpinUOC is organized as part of Hubbik, the UOC's platform to foster innovation, transfer, entrepreneurship and open collaboration at the University. The initiatives receives support from Estrella Damm, Foment de Treball, Ramon Molinas Foundation, Seed&Click, and the Government of Catalonia's Universities and Research Department, and gets funding from the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF).