SpinUOC: new edition of the UOC's flagship entrepreneurship programme

The Universitat Oberta de Catalunya (UOC) has launched a call for applications for SpinUOC2026, the leading annual entrepreneurship and innovation initiative. After 13 years and over 1,700 projects promoted by Hubbik, the UOC's entrepreneurship support platform, this year's edition will be expanded to include three separate categories. Applications must be submitted by 18 January.

In addition to the general awards for the UOC's entrepreneurial community, the 2026 edition will see the continuation of the SpinUOC Dona Award, which was introduced last year, and the introduction of an entirely new category, SpinUOC Rural, with a prize of €10,000 for the best project. A total of €43,000 in prizes will be awarded this year.

Categories

- SpinUOC 2026 (general): This is an open call for innovative tech-based projects created by members of the UOC community. The finalists will be up for one of the two €10,000 prizes: one for the best project and one, sponsored by the Ramon Molinas Foundation, for the project with the greatest social impact. There will also be a prize of €3,000 euros for the best project as voted for by the audience live at the event on 18 June.

- SpinUOC Rural 2026: This category is aimed at projects with an impact on rural areas and on the challenges facing today's rural communities, whether or not they were created by members of the UOC community. In addition to winning €10,000, the best project will also make the shortlist of 8 finalists for SpinUOC and have a chance to win one of the other €10,000 prizes.

- SpinUOC Dona 2026: This category is aimed at projects led by women in the Hubbik entrepreneurial community. Applications must be registered under one of the two SpinUOC 2026 award categories: general or rural. A prize of €10,000 will be awarded to the best project selected by the jury, and the best two projects will receive one year of support in the form of exclusive Hubbik services.

At last year's event, UOC Rector Àngels Fitó highlighted how SpinUOC "reflects the unity of the UOC family" and how the projects are "a way of looking into the future and serving the community". She also stressed that these awards "seek to reward the ambition to start up a business during difficult times" and underlined the importance of the SpinUOC Dona Award as a decisive step towards achieving gender equality in entrepreneurship. Fitó also highlighted the role of the Hubbik platform which, thanks to its global reach, gives entrepreneurs the opportunity to develop their ideas regardless of where they live.

This year's addition of the new SpinUOC Rural award category seeks to address the current challenges facing rural areas, whose residents make up 17% of the UOC community, with women accounting for 62% of the total. These new developments once again demonstrate the UOC's commitment to diversity, equality and innovation as strategic areas for the future.

Registration

If you want to register your entrepreneurial project for promotion through the SpinUOC programme, you need to do so by 18 January 2026. Just fill in the registration form for each programme, where you'll also find the terms and conditions.

The organizers stressed that "if you're a member of the UOC community and have an innovative project that you'd like to develop, sign up for SpinUOC. Or, if you have a project that addresses the problems affecting rural areas and the challenges facing today's rural communities, sign up for SpinUOC Rural – you don't need to be a member of the UOC community. And, if you also want to be eligible for the SpinUOC Dona Award, you must register for one of the other SpinUOC calls."

As stated in the terms and conditions, you can't participate in both SpinUOC and SpinUOC Rural in the same year, so you must choose the category that you feel is the best fit. If you have any questions, email hubbik@uoc.edu.

SpinUOC is a UOC entrepreneurship promotion programme coordinated by the Hubbik platform and supported by the Ramon Molinas Foundation. 

SpinUOC may be co-funded by the EU's European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) as part of the Catalonia ERDF Operational Programme 2021-2027.

Transformative, impactful research

At the UOC, we see research as a strategic tool to advance towards a future society that is more critical, responsible and nonconformist. With this vision, we conduct applied research that's interdisciplinary and linked to the most important social, technological and educational challenges.

The UOC’s over 500 researchers and more than 50 research groups are working in five research units focusing on five missions: lifelong learning; ethical and human-centred technology; digital transition and sustainability; culture for a critical society, and digital health and planetary well-being.

The university's Hubbik platform fosters knowledge transfer and entrepreneurship in the UOC community.

More information: www.uoc.edu/en/research