AI-generated summary
The Akademia Program, launched on Friday by the Bankinter Innovation Foundation, is designed for university students eager to explore beyond traditional education and develop professional excellence through innovation. This immersive program brings together students from six Spanish universities and diverse academic backgrounds—including law, engineering, marketing, and even microbiology—to engage with cutting-edge innovation processes. Guided by a faculty of 12 leading experts in Spanish innovation, including Fernando Alfaro, founder of Madiva, and Javier Foncillas, European VP at Dolby Laboratories, the program emphasizes practical learning. Students experience real innovation challenges, such as predicting future trends and developing AI-based algorithms, while focusing on three core principles: deep functional knowledge, leveraging energy and telecommunications as vectors of change, and harnessing AI to exponentially expand expertise.
Since its inception in 2008, Akademia has empowered over 1,600 students to enhance their skills, broaden their perspectives on innovation, and build valuable networks within the FIBK community. Participants are encouraged to collaborate with peers who are smarter and different, fostering continuous learning as the key sustainable competitive advantage. Beyond knowledge acquisition, alumni appreciate the transformative impact on their careers and access to entrepreneurial support through the Foundation’s Startups program. The Akademia Program continues to be a prestigious platform nurturing future innovators and leaders across various fields.
The Akademia course begins. University students who seek to learn how to innovate find in Akademia the inspiration, ideas, tools and peers to achieve it.
On Friday, a new edition of our Akademia Program began, aimed at university students, who want to get off the beaten track and want to grow and develop in search of their professional excellence.
Students from six universities (Polytechnic University of Valencia, Pompeu Fabra, University of Santiago de Compostela, Loyola University, University of Murcia and the IEB University Center for Higher Studies), and from different careers, have been selected to carry out this immersion program in the innovative world, guided by renowned experts with inspiring capacity.
The faculty is made up of 12 experts from the Spanish innovation scene, including the promoter of this initiative, Fernando Alfaro, founder of Madiva and for many years Managing Director of Bankinter in the Innovation Area, and Javier Foncillas, current European Vice President responsible for alliances at Dolby Laboratories, with more than 20 years of experience in the entertainment industries. Internet and telecommunications. Both are two of the top innovation benchmarks at the national level.
The kick-off session, organised by the director of the Programme, Raquel Puente, was welcomed by Juan Moreno, general director of the Foundation. After the individual presentation of the students, Fernando Alfaro and Javier Foncillas, they have fully entered into the subject.
This Akademia group is made up of students of Law, International Relations, Physics, Computer Engineering, Marketing, Double Degree in Business Administration and Communication, Industrial Engineering, Economics, Chemistry, Degree in Air Transport Management and Operations, Architecture, even a PhD student in microbiology. They have very different profiles and different motivations, but one thing in common: the desire to go beyond formal education and the desire to enhance and develop their skills, working with people who also seek to make a difference.
What is Akademia going to be like?
Students will take a practical journey that allows them to experience a real innovation process: from learning to predict future trends to developing an algorithm based on Artificial Intelligence.
In the first session, the three essential things to innovate and that are the common thread of the program are highlighted, illustrated with examples:
- Have a deep functional knowledge of a subject (it can be economics, marketing, medicine, engineering or journalism, any field of knowledge).
- Use energy and telecommunications as a vector of change in the field of knowledge.
- See how that knowledge can become exponential: Thanks to Artificial Intelligence, an expert’s knowledge is not constrained by time or space.
And two essential tips:
- Surround yourself with people better than you, smarter than you, and different from you. This way you will become an innovator in everything you tackle.
- The only sustainable competitive advantage is learning before everyone else.
The Akademia program has been successfully held since 2008, helping more than 1,600 students acquire essential skills and abilities that have made a difference in their career path.
Akademia alumni not only benefit from the knowledge acquired and the experiences they have carried out. Among the things they value most is their change of perspective regarding their innovative capabilities and the network of contacts they access as members of the FIBK community.
At the Bankinter Innovation Foundation we are very proud of the trajectory of Akademia’s alumni. In addition, through the Startups program, we offer support to entrepreneurs.
Find out what those who have passed through Akademia think, in the In first person, section of the Akademia Program page.
VP. Commercial Partnerships Europe en Dolby Laboratories
