Last Monday, November 20, the Catalan Association of Public Universities (ACUP) presented their conclusions of their Report, and delivered its first copies. The event took place throughout the morning at the Auditorium of La Pedrera in Barcelona.
The event was welcomed by Arcadi Navarro (Secretary of Universities and Research of the Generalitat de Catalunya), Jaume A.Planell (Vice-president of ACUP and rector of the UOC), Jordi Suriñach and Juan Antonio Duro, who authored the report.
Suriñach and Duro presented the main objectives which quantified the socio-economic impact that the public universities system in Catalonia and the rest of the Catalan public system of R + D + I generated on the economy in the 2015 academic year as a basis of study. In this case, emphasis was placed upon the approximation found in the study which revealed how Catalan public universities contribute to the Catalan economy with 1.4% of GDP and generate about 45,000 full-time jobs. As far as the public research system is concerned, the contribution of Catalan GDP stands at 1.7% and the jobs generated amount to 60,000 workers.
Throughout the day, the heads of the Offices of Transfer of Research Results (OTRIS) also presented their respective projects and strategic plans to transform knowledge into innovation, while FEDER called for new projects within the framework of universities. Also mentioned were the experiences of productivity networks and the potential inspiring models for the Catalan university system, followed by a round table on the innovation strategies led by the vice-rectors of research and/or transfer of the Catalan universities. The event ended with a closing by Josep Pallarès (General Director of Universities of the Generalitat) and Josep M. Vilalta (Executive Secretary of the Catalan Association of Public Universities).
The study will be incorporated into the publications and indicators of the public university system of ACUP along with the Research and Innovation Indicators of the Catalan public universities Report and the Training and Teaching Indicators Report.
