SpinUOC rewards talent in digital entrepreneurship at its annual event

[Update: 27/6/25: Levelab has won the jury prize, while All-Voiced has received both the audience award and the Ramon Molinas Foundation award for social impact.

The spin-off UNNE has won the first prize at the SpinUOC Women edition, and AlfaSAAC —focused on literacy for children and individuals with disabilities and complex communication needs— has won the second prize.]

The annual SpinUOC entrepreneurship programme supports entrepreneurial and technological projects from members of the Universitat Oberta de Catalunya (UOC), including students, graduates, teaching staff, researchers and administrative staff. Now in its 13th year, the final event will take place on 26 June at 7 p.m. at the UOC Campus in Barcelona's Poblenou neighbourhood (Carrer del Perú 52). Registration to attend is open via this form. Earlier, starting at 5:30 p.m., the event warms ups with the SpinRoom podcast, broadcast through the UOC's YouTube channel or live at the university headquarters, with interviews from the entrepreneurial community.

Under the slogan Opening doors to innovation, the event will feature the presentation of eight finalist initiatives that have benefited from personalized mentoring. Three awards will be presented: a prize for the best entrepreneurial project, which will be awarded by a panel of expert judges; a second prize for the project with the greatest social impact, awarded by the Ramon Molinas Foundation; and a third prize for the best presentation, chosen by the audience on the day.

Like last year, the winners of the first two prizes (which cannot be awarded to the same project) will each receive a €10,000 cash prize, and the winner of the audience prize will receive €3,000. All finalists will also receive a pass to attend 4 Years From Now (4YFN), the leading international start-up event, at the Mobile World Congress in 2026.

Each SpinUOC finalist will have five minutes to pitch their project to the audience, after which there will be an opportunity to network and engage with attendees. Below is a preview of this year's eight finalist initiatives.

Inclusive AI solutions for cognitive, communicative and sensory accessibility

Accessibles is a start-up offering inclusive solutions for cognitive, communicative and sensory accessibility through artificial intelligence. Its mission is to transform education, information and digital communication by using innovative technologies. Its tool, Melvin, adapts digital environments to make them more understandable and accessible. Features include easy-to-read content, smart summaries, sign language and pictograms.

The initiative is led by Laura Martín, whose achievements at the UOC include a specialization diploma in Technical-educational Design of Programmes, Environments and Resources, a Master's Degree in Education and ICT (E-learning) and a course on Accessibility; Luis Malhadas, who is a computer engineer; and Anna Barnadas, who holds a diploma in Business Sciences and a postgraduate qualification in Accounting Standards from the UOC. Both Martín and Malhadas have also participated in the EduTECH Emprèn programme.

A platform for voice assessment

All-Voiced is a digital platform designed to improve vocal health and quality of life for individuals with voice disorders around the globe.

Created to support research, training and clinical practice, the platform helps professionals to train and calibrate their auditory perception. It also facilitates collaborative research projects and enables precise voice assessments for patients. It is intended for use by voice laboratories, universities, speech therapy clinics and health services. 

The project is led by Neus Calaf, a course instructor on the UOC's Bachelor's Degree in Speech and Language Therapy.

A data management software solution

Datanest is a smart automation and data management platform that transforms business decision-making through big data and advanced predictive models. Specializing in logistics, it enables users to visualize, anticipate and optimize key processes clearly and efficiently.

This human-centred project, which champions better decision-making, is led by Xavier Garcia Fuentes, a student on the Bachelor's Degree in Psychology.

Enhancing learning through interaction with chatbots

EduAIA is a project led by Elvis Ortega-Ochoa, a doctoral student and researcher in the Education and ICT (Edul@b) research group, which is affiliated to the research unit on education and elearning. The initiative focuses on turning interactions with generative artificial intelligence into productive learning experiences through empathetic educational chatbots.

The "Tripadvisor" for influencers

Paola Chaler, who completed the Bachelor's Degree in Communication, will present Indatika, an influencer database that includes ratings. Indatika addresses the uncertainty surrounding influencer marketing by allowing brands to read genuine reviews from other companies about past collaborations. This streamlines the influencer selection process, saving time and boosting return on investment by enabling brands to choose the right profiles based on proven performance.

A platform to democratize education through practical lessons

Alex Rius, a participant in EduTECH Emprèn, will present Levelab, a platform that simplifies the design and delivery of practical lessons for educational content involving digital tools, accessible from any device. The platform supports educators looking to implement hands-on approaches, such as learning by doing. It does this by providing automated answers to students' questions, reducing technical issues and optimizing the overall learning experience.

The technology has a significant social impact, removing barriers to education, boosting student engagement and contributing to markedly improved academic outcomes.

Innovation 4.0 for critical infrastructure security

Panssari is a Technology 4.0 project focused on safeguarding critical infrastructure. It will be presented by Helena Calva, who graduated from the Bachelor's Degree in Digital Design and Creation. With support from Ports 4.0, a programme run by Spain's national ports authority, Panssari has developed a modular technology for port security.

The initiative integrates three systems: access control and geolocation, radio frequency detection, and computer vision. The Panssari platform, an AI system powered by deep learning, collects and processes the data generated by these technologies to detect, tag and track intruders as a first line of defence.

Educational technology to tackle climate change

POWAR STEAM is a start-up founded by Pablo Zuloaga (a participant in EduTECH Emprèn) that develops innovative educational solutions to bring education on climate change and sustainability into the classroom using a STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Mathematics) approach.

It offers tools such as POWAR CS, a climate simulator, and P-BIT, an educational microcomputer with built-in sensors that enables students to explore their surroundings and work with real environmental data. These tools are complemented by a digital platform powered by artificial intelligence that helps teachers design curriculum-aligned activities linked to sustainability goals. The project promotes active, cross-curricular learning that engages students with current real-world challenges.

SpinUOC Women's Award

As a new feature of the SpinUOC 2025 final event, the SpinUOC Women's Award will be presented alongside the three usual prizes. The aim is to highlight and support entrepreneurial projects led by women within the Hubbik ecosystem. The first prize winner will receive €10,000 and personalized mentoring, and the runner-up will receive specialized consultancy.

Entrepreneurship as part of the UOC's mission

At the previous SpinUOC event, Rector Àngels Fitó explained that "the UOC's mission is to help make things happen and recognize that knowledge flows in many directions". According to Fitó, the path forward "doesn't always run from science to market; within the community, there are countless opportunities for the entrepreneurial spark to ignite. What we must do is capture that enthusiasm and those initiatives, and provide the right support to help bring them to fruition".

Fitó also noted that "we need to ensure that the entrepreneurial maturation process enables the creation of a product that's sufficiently viable to make the first steps possible. There's an initial level of commitment required from the entrepreneur, followed by guidance through questions that encourage reflection on the scope of the idea to be developed."

Meanwhile, Xavier Vilajosana, Vice Rector for Research, Knowledge Transfer and Entrepreneurship, added: "SpinUOC reveals the tip of the iceberg of a restless, innovative and business-minded community. Our commitment as a university is to help more projects emerge, support our community in its development and turn this potential into tangible value for society."

SpinUOC is the UOC's entrepreneurship support programme. It is coordinated by the Hubbik platform and supported by the Ramon Molinas Foundation. The SpinUOC Women's Award is backed by the area of ​​female entrepreneurship of the University of Santiago de Compostela.

The programme may also receive co-funding in the form of a subsidy aimed at reducing the gender gap in the ICT sector, if awarded. This would be part of the Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan, which is funded by the European Union through the Next Generation EU programme (ref. BDNS 805662).

Research at the UOC

Specializing in the digital realm, the UOC's research contributes to the construction of future society and the transformations required to tackle global challenges.

Over 500 researchers and more than 50 research groups make up five research units, each with a mission: Culture for a critical society, Lifelong education, Digital health and planetary well-being, Ethical and human-centred technology and Digital transition and sustainability.

The university's Hubbik platform fosters the development of UOC community knowledge transfer and entrepreneurship initiatives.

The goals of the United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and open knowledge are strategic pillars that underpin the UOC's teaching, research and knowledge transfer activities. For more information, visit research.uoc.edu.