They pour their hearts into their projects. They work day and night to solve problems, bring something new to the table, to innovate. They do it while taking risks, guided by an almost blind conviction, with no certainty of success. In the end, researchers and entrepreneurs have more in common than we think.

At the second edition of Tech Spirit Breakthrough, organized by Tech Barcelona in collaboration with Faber and Mitiga, we brought together entrepreneurs, public institutions, TTOs, and investors with a clear goal: to prove that projects born in research centers can also make a rapid impact on society. That researchers can also be CEOs, CSOs, CTOs… and hold every title in the startup world you can imagine.

Barcelona Activa, ACCIÓ, the Generalitat, and Biocat were the first to take the stage at Pier07, calling for stronger European alignment in tech transfer. Beyond local or regional efforts, only a large-scale strategy will bring our technologies to international markets.

What followed was an open debate between founders, TTOs, and investors, three key players in the tech transfer process, each with different but complementary experiences:

• Some of the founders developing university-based projects called for more flexibility, especially regarding equity models: “we can’t allow this technology to gather dust on a shelf.” Institutional support must adapt to the real-world needs of spin-offs.
• TTOs, for their part, emphasized that their role goes far beyond spin-off creation and financial management. “We have a responsibility to understand the potential impact of each project and help entrepreneurs create value.”
• Investors highlighted that their role is not just to provide funding, but also to offer guidance and open up their networks to startups to help minimize early-stage mistakes.

The first part of the event flew by, leaving the conversation open-ended. Then came the turn of the true protagonists: 15 spin-offs pitched their solutions to a panel of investors.

Thank you to ATOM H2, Gate2Brain, CGI-Clinics, Time is Brain, Vaive Logistics, Manina Medtech, Ocean Smart Energy, Aurax, Blue Ant, Galtea Solutions, OneCareAI, Aridditive, Ephion Health, and Volum Technologies for showing the world how researchers are already CEOs, CSOs, and CTOs.

In Barcelona there are already 355 spin-offs, will you be next?