With the 8 institutions of the network present (BSC, VHIR, CNM-CISC, CIMNE, UB, UAB, IRB-BSC and IJC) and a total of 96 attendees (among which there were researchers, tech transfer offices, spinoffs, collaborators and investors), the X4HPC celebrated its Open Innovation Day and Annual Assembly at the BSC, last Tuesday, October 22nd 2024.

Since its birth in January 2023, the X4HPC Network has grown from 23 research groups to a total of 41 groups, which amount to a total of more than 400 researchers and 25 spinoff that have emerged from all these groups. 4 of these spinoffs have been constituted and supported from the X4HPC in 2023-2024. the network  started with 15 collaborators in 2023, and now in 2024 counts with a total of 45 collaborating entities (including investors, consulting firms, legal and IP experts, clusters, associations and companies).

From the main activities carried out during this 1’5 year of Network, the impact achieved so far has been:

  • The identification and scouting of 166 technologies
  • The financing of 13 patentability studies, 11 market studies, 2 business plans and 3 mentoring sessions, providing specific expert assessment to projects, helping them increase their technology maturity levels and accelerating their path to the market.
  • The acceleration of 10 projects through its flagship entrepreneurship and acceleration program for HPC-based spinoffs, the Innovation Journey Program, with a total of 77 trained researchers.
  • A total of 17 projects redirected to external accelerators and venture builders, and of 16 projects redirected to different funding calls.
  • A very active role in Fairs, with a total of 11 Fairs and Congresses attended, 63 meetings with companies closed and 5 edited catalogues.
  • The creation of 4 new spinoffs in this period 2023-2024 (Talptech, Galtea and UMODL from BSC, and SimTwins from CIMNE).
  • The creation of 2 Standardization Guides (for Open Source SW and Open HW protection), with the support of Malcolm Bain from Across Legal.

The members of the network were also informed of the addition of four new advisors to the X4HPC Experts Commission, which had already brought Malcolm Bain (from Across Legal) on board in 2023: Carles Grau (CEO of Grau Innovation Consulting), Oscar Sala (VP and Head of DeepTech Program at 3xPGlobal), Sébastien Lefebvre (partner at ELAIA) and Mariona Sanz (Head of the Innovation & Business Development Area at BSC).

The plan of 2025 activities was also shared, with a strong presence planned at events such as 4YFN, the upcoming edition of the 2025 Innovation Journey Program, and the intention to internationalize the network by connecting it to European projects like AI Factories and others.

The day started with two round tables engaging all the 8 institutions of the network in interesting discussions: one about Technology Transfer strategy of the catalan R+D+I agents, moderated by Anna Escoda, Director of the Tech Transfer Area at BSC and with the participation of CSIC and IRB; and another focusing on R&D&I Networks in Catalonia and their impact on the catalan innovation ecosystem, moderated by Nadal Bayà, Head of Knowledge Transfer at Agaur, that counted with the participation of UB, VHIR and UAB.

In the second part of the event, the Open Innovation Day at BSC, other two round table discussions about How big corporations address Open Innovation were held, including relevant companies such as Uriach, Cetaqua, Grifols, Naturgy, Astrazeneca, Suara, IDP Ingeniería, Port de Barcelona and HPC Now!. Focused on exploring how to tackle real-world challenges through the collaboration between research centers and the private sector.

A total of 34 meetings between researchers from the X4HPC and industry leaders took place after the round tables, the beginning of potential interesting collaborations in the future.

From the X4HPC Network we are committed to build strong relationships within the HPC community and to boost and consolidate the research and innovation HPC ecosystem in Catalonia and internationally.

 

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