#SpinUOC 2024

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Entrepreneurship

Call for proposals for entrepreneurship and knowledge transfer of the UOC community

On 27 June 2024 you’ll be able to hear first-hand about eight projects with lots of potential at the UOC's twelfth annual entrepreneurship event, SpinUOC.

If you're a member of the UOC community and you have a project underway that needs some backing, now is the time to let us know! The University has opened a new call for applications for the #SpinUOC entrepreneurship support programme for students, alumni, course instructors, faculty members, researchers or administrative staff.

This year there will be three cash prizes: two for €10,000 an other for €3,000.

With support from:Estrella Damm, la Ramon Molinas Foundation, Acció and Secretaria d'Universitats i Recerca, del Departament d'Empresa i Coneixement de la Generalitat de Catalunya, with the co-financing of the Fons Europeu de Desenvolupament Regional («FEDER»).

Participation

The proposal registration process starts with publication of these rules and closes on 21 January 2024. If you have a project that meets the #SpinUOC criteria, simply complete the following online form to submit it.

Once registration has been accepted, participants must follow the itinerary explained below.

Phase 1: Initial training and project pre-selection

All the projects entered in this call will receive training in the entrepreneurial process given by the Hubbik online platform, which will be enabled once registration is accepted under the terms established by the organizers.

The training will consist of a fully online course on Business Idea Generation and Maturing, with an estimated duration of 40 hours.

At the same time, candidates must take part in two group sessions (with each session lasting three hours) which will be given in a blended format (candidates can either attend on-site or view it by streaming) in Fabruary 2023, on defining the business model and lean startup methodology (preparation of a business model canvas) and communication techniques (preparing the pitch).

This part of the process (training and initial guidance) will not be compulsory if you have stated that you have taken part in other entrepreneurship education or support processes (supporting documentation will be requested).

The compulsory documentation for assessing the project must be submitted from 22 January to 11 February 2023, which is the closing date of this phase, as follows: a canvas explaining the business model and your pitch, in the form of an explanatory video with a maximum duration of 90 seconds, featuring one or more members of the team who explain the project's key aspects, and an executive summary of the project following a template provided by the organization. The requirements for preparing and sending these documents are explained at the end of these rules, in Appendix 1.

At the end of this phase, a technical assessment committee will pre-select a maximum of 20 projects, analysing the documentation submitted on the basis of the following criteria: alignment with the UOC's fields of knowledge, innovativeness, viability and market transferability, the project sponsors' presentation abilities, and social impact.

The list of pre-selected projects will be published no later than March 11.

Phase 2: Individualized guidance for the pre-selected projects

The pre-selected projects will take part in a second compulsory phase consisting of individualized guidance by an expert mentor (up to 4 hours) to develop and improve the submitted documents (canvas, pitch and executive summary). This phase will last from 11 to 31 March 2024.

The goal pursued by these mentorships is to resolve the projects' specific needs in different areas, such as value proposition, channels, sources of income or customer segments. They will also enable attention to be paid to aspects of the pitch and the executive summary that need improving.

Upon completing this second guidance phase, the participants must provide the following documentation by 31 March at the latest: an evolved version of the canvas, that explains the business model, and a video pitch explaining the project, with a maximum duration of 90 seconds, and an executive summary (one-page) of the project, following a template that will be made available to the participants. These may be new documents or the same documents submitted in the first phase, as the participant thinks best, taking into account the mentor's recommendations.

Selection of the 8 projects that will take part in #SpinUOC 2024

After completing the second personalized guidance phase, a jury will analyse the pre-selected proposals in order to choose the eight best projects (and two backup projects), evaluating the documentation submitted on the basis of the following criteria: (1) strategic alignment with the UOC and social impact, (2) innovativeness, (3) viability and market transferability, (4) the project leader's entrepreneurial profile and communication abilities.

Description of the assessment criteria:

1. Strategic alignment with the UOC and social impact: Business idea related with the information and knowledge society and e-learning. If this is not the case, the synergies that the future company may have with the UOC's research groups will also be considered. The social impact, understood as the degree to which the idea may contribute to social transformation and progress.

2. Innovativeness: Novelty and technological or knowledge content. Newness of the initiative and origin of the knowledge behind the project.

3. Viability and market transferability: Knowledge of the market and identification of the necessary resources to carry out the project (material, financial, human, technical and legal).

4. The project leader's entrepreneurial profile and communication abilities: Interest and commitment shown by the project's sponsors, academic and professional background of the people behind the initiative, and communication skills in presenting the project.

The decision will be made public on the UOC e-Centre's e-Noticeboard on 19 April 2024.

Jury members:

The jury examining the shortlisted projects and selecting the projects that will participate in the #SpinUOC 2024 event consists of a total of a minimum of ten people linked to the UOC and the world of entrepreneurship.

This year the SpinUOC jury is made up of the following people with links to the UOC and in the field of entrepreneurship:

Joan Arnedo, professor of Computer Science, Multimedia and Telecommunications at the UOC
Noaa Barak, Strategy Manager, 4 Years From Now (4YFN)
Joana Barbany, Director of Business Development at Page Group, advisor and mentor specialising in ESG
Míriam Casillas, Head of BANC, Business Angel Network Catalonia
Xavier Cortés, director of the Ramon Molinas Foundation
Joan Haro, as representative of UOC Alumni
Lourdes Muñoz, co-founder of the Barcelona Open Data Initiative
Begoña Perdiguero, head of the technological entrepreneurship programme at ACCIÓ
Mireia Riera, Director of the UOC Research and Innovation Area
Enric Serradell, Director of the MBA Programmes in Economics and Business Studies at the UOC
Xavier Vilajosana, Vice-Rector for Research, Transfer and Entrepreneurship

Preparation of the candidates for the #SpinUOC 2024 event

The candidates of the eight selected proposals will take part in two key moments of the event: they will present their project on a stage with an elevator pitch lasting a maximum of 5 minutes , and they will take part in the SpinMeetings, a networking area that will help them to connect with stakeholders in the project's field of application.

The candidates' preparation will consist of group and individual mentoring sessions over a period of three months adapted to the projects' needs and present status, designed in accordance with an individualized pathway, with the goal of validating the business model and plan and defining the financing plan (up to 20 hours), to help bring the projects to fruition and prepare the SpinMeetings and the presentation, and to transform them into the best-selling tool (up to 10 hours per project).

Prizes

This year, three prizes will be awarded among the eight projects selected, which will be decided at the event:

One for the best entrepreneurial project, endowed with 10,000 euros.
Ramon Molinas Foundation prize for best project with social impact,, that is, the project that contributes the greatest transformations and the greatest social progress, sponsored by the Ramon Molinas Foundation and endowed with 10,000 euros.
One for the best presentation, endowed with 3,000 euros.

The winning projects will have access to a support programme for the development, validation and implementation of the business model and a funding plan (valued at 2,500 euros), provided by Hubbik.

The eight projects presented at the event will be given a ticket for 2025's Years From Now (4YFN), the Mobile World Congress's entrepreneurship fair, where they will be able to promote the projects. In addition, some of these eight projects will be given a space on the UOC's stand at 4YFN 2025.

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