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Innovation today often emerges not just from Silicon Valley garages but increasingly within university ecosystems, where academic research and student initiatives are transformed into real-world solutions. In Spain, universities are becoming important incubators for entrepreneurship, fostering startups and spin-offs that tackle challenges across diverse sectors such as health, energy, sustainability, and digital technologies. These university-driven ventures benefit from strong research foundations, access to specialized infrastructure, and mentoring, giving them a competitive edge in high-tech fields like digital health, quantum computing, and space technology.
According to a 2023 report by Mobile World Capital Barcelona and Deloitte, Spain hosts 1,210 active deep tech spin-offs generating 12,200 qualified jobs and nearly 2 billion euros in annual revenue, with Catalonia and Madrid leading the way due to their dense research networks. Examples include Beonchip (personalized medicine), Alén Space (nanosatellites), and Multiverse Computing (quantum computing software). Programs such as Akademia further stimulate innovation by connecting students with emerging trends. However, challenges remain in bridging the “valley of death” from lab to market, necessitating increased funding, regulatory simplification, enhanced knowledge transfer offices, and stronger public-private collaboration. Ultimately, university spin-offs represent strategic investments that drive applied innovation, bridging science and society, and positioning Spain as a growing hub for transformative technologies.
University classrooms and laboratories can be the ideal place to develop innovation with real impact and transform it into a company.
Not all of the Innovation arises in a Silicon Valley garage, sometimes born between blackboards or in impromptu conversations in a campus cafeteria. In fact, it is increasingly common for universities not only to teach, but also to incubate, becoming authentic innovation ecosystems, where ideas, research and intuitions are transformed into concrete projects. In Spain, this wave of academic entrepreneurship – made up of student initiatives, projects driven by young researchers – is beginning to change the business landscape.
Thus, Spanish universities are gaining prominence as entrepreneurship incubators where applied research begins to translate into tangible solutions that respond to real challenges. University startups and spin-offs are driving sectors as diverse as health, energy, sustainability and digital technologies.
According to data from the report ‘The ecosystem of deep tech spin-offs in Spain‘, prepared by Mobile World Capital Barcelona together with Deloitte, at the end of 2023 there were 1,210 active deep tech spin-offs registered in the country. Together, they generate 12,200 qualified jobs and have a turnover of nearly 2,000 million euros per year. Catalonia and Madrid concentrate more than half of these companies, with 355 and 319 respectively, thanks to their dense network of universities and research centers. Behind them, although with more modest figures, come the Valencian Community, Andalusia and the Basque Country.
Many of the startups that emerged from the university environment are characterized by a strong technological or scientific component. It is no coincidence that sectors such as digital health, environmental sustainability, Quantum computing or space are often at the center of these initiatives. Its competitive advantage is evident: a solid research base and access to infrastructures and mentoring that only the academic world can offer.
This is the case of Beonchip, a spin-off of the University of Zaragoza that develops microfluidic chips for the simulation of human tissues, with applications in personalized medicine; of Alén Space, born at the University of Vigo to design nanosatellites for commercial and scientific uses. Or Multiverse Computing, which took its first steps in the corridors of the University of the Basque Country, developing quantum computing software today adopted by banks and industries, and Plant Response Biotech, a spin-off of the Polytechnic University of Madrid that develops crop protection products without generating waste.
The impetus for these projects is not only due to scientific excellence, but also to the existence of training programmes and spaces for connection with the future. In this sense, the program Akademia, promoted by the Bankinter Innovation Foundation, has been decisive for a new generation of entrepreneurs. By putting students in contact with emerging trends such as artificial intelligence, bioengineering or climate change, Akademia not only trains professionals, but stimulates the creation of ideas with impact.
However, the path is not exempt from obstacles. The so-called “valley of death” – the transition from the laboratory to the market – remains a critical stage. Many initiatives fail due to lack of adequate funding, legal difficulties or lack of contact networks with the industry. It is also key to strengthen the Knowledge Transfer Offices (TBOs), whose capillarity and effectiveness remain uneven between communities and universities.
In this sense, there are several levers necessary to consolidate this ecosystem: increasing the resources available at early stages, extending tax incentives to companies and investors, simplifying the regulatory framework and, above all, promoting closer collaboration between the public and private sectors.
In a world where competitiveness is defined by the ability to transform knowledge into value, university spin-offs are much more than start-ups. They are bridges between science and society, engines of applied innovation and tools to face global challenges. Investing in them is not only an economic bet, but also a strategic investment in the future. Perhaps the next European unicorn will be born between an innovation ethics class and a prototyping laboratory. And it will be the result not only of a good idea, but of an ecosystem that believes in the transformative power of knowledge.
