The Eurecat technology centre has attained 15,823 technological innovation projects and services since its founding in 2015. They include 15,023 with businesses and organisations and 834 in European, Spanish and Catalan R&D and innovation consortiums with an impact on the deployment of new business models, products, services and production processes designed to make the economic and industrial network more competitive.

This was announced today on the occasion of Eurecat’s tenth anniversary by Daniel Altimiras, Eurecat’s Chair, who pointed out that Eurecat “has accelerated technological innovation in more than 3,200 companies of all sizes and sectors, which is a significant percentage of the 15.5% of companies that innovate in Catalonia,” alongside driving “innovative social, climate resilience, industrial self-sufficiency and technological sovereignty initiatives.”

In this first decade of its history, “Eurecat has grown to address all the complexity businesses have to face in meeting their technological innovation challenges,” he argued. “It has also become a leader in business innovation and a reliable and trustworthy strategic partner for large companies and small and medium-sized enterprises alike across all sectors.”

10 years of Eurecat: growth figures

In its first 10 years of existence, “Eurecat has posted an average annual increase of more than 10%, which makes it one of the fastest-growing technology centres in Europe,” due to a “commitment to high-growth technological areas sought after by enterprises,” added Xavier López, Eurecat’s Chief Operating and Corporate Officer.

As he pointed out, “the considerable growth in revenue from competitive public projects has also enabled us to expedite knowledge development in key areas in digital and industrial technologies, biotechnology and sustainability.”

In his view, “most importantly, Eurecat has achieved critical mass and efficiency to fast-track industrial research, technological innovation and technology transfer for companies.”

Xavier López revealed that Eurecat expects to grow by more than 40% with its new three-year Strategic Plan and reach €100 million in revenue in line with “our mission to cater to companies of all sizes, especially SMEs, to help them achieve their goals and support them as a partner in their innovation agendas.”

He also said that the technology centre closed 2024 with €69 million in revenue, more than twice as much as in 2015, and noted that the economic impact multiplier in Catalonia is 9.37, adding the direct, indirect and induced effect and the social and environmental impact of the result of its operations.

Xavier López also referred to Eurecat’s efforts in valorising its technologies which has led to 10 spin-offs and 230 new patents.

Investment in new technological infrastructures

Xavier López announced that the technology centre “will step up investment in new technological infrastructures to increase its technological capacity in areas such as robotics and decarbonisation” as part of its “commitment to staying at the scientific and technological forefront to drive the productivity and resilience of companies, organisations and society.”

“Investment means generating knowledge and new technologies which are transferred to the productive sector, creating value and a positive impact on the ecosystem and making us more competitive” in an environment shaped by “the acceleration of the technological race, geostrategic issues and complex industrial and social challenges.”

Technological innovation with an impact on business

Eurecat’s multi-technological and multidisciplinary capabilities have enabled it to undertake cutting-edge projects with companies such as Gràfiques Manlleu, for developing a labelling control system based on photonics and artificial intelligence algorithms; with the Teyme Group in agriculture 4.0 by sensorising, robotising and automating processes; with SEAT, in vertical autonomous navigation with drones inside its factory; with Canmartex, in the application of Industry 4.0 in its textile machinery plant; with NOVARTIS, in capturing ideas and talent through holding datathons; with Masats, in manufacturing accessibility systems for public transport with composites and in predictive maintenance projects, and with Splendid Foods, to optimise the cold meat curing process.

Eurecat has also innovated with CONIEX in developing new industrial processes with silicone; with Flick Hockey, in a new line of high-performance sportswear made from plastic waste recovered from the seabed; with Kivnon, in innovative mobile robotics solutions to make factories more flexible and smarter; with Cafès Cornellà, in its digital transformation process; with Girbau, in reducing water use in washing processes, and with Escofet, in developing a sustainable paver for 21st century Barcelona.

Eurecat has partnered with Miliunverd in researching sustainable packaging to market its Casolí oil brand; with Time is Brain, to create an innovative device which allows real-time monitoring of brain activity in stroke patients; with Santos Jorge, to recover glass waste to get new materials and applications; with Giró, to create innovative plastic-free fruit and vegetable packaging; with Carinsa, to develop new services and disruptive products for perfumery and food, and with HOHNER, to digitalise its production plant and make headway in product customisation.

Other examples of innovation include with Aigües de Vic, to roll out a technological step change for the water industry; with the Sant Víctor Nursing Home, to create a predictive device to improve the lives of the elderly; with Ocean Ecostructures, to regenerate marine biodiversity; with Bionet, to develop a station that monitors the arrival of invasive exotic species, and with Doonamis, to devise innovative digital solutions.

Transformational technologies to address global challenges

In its new three-year Strategic Plan, Eurecat will unlock transformational technologies in response to global challenges: health and wellbeing, industrial self-sufficiency and technological sovereignty, climate resilience and the new digital era.

Here, Eurecat has set out eight technology missions which will address innovation in prevention and personalised care and driving breakthroughs to enhance mental and cognitive health and the application of new computational paradigms to design the next generation of digital experiences and sustainable industrial solutions.

Other missions included in the new Strategic Plan are promoting a more inclusive and fairer society by ensuring that new computational methods increase security at all levels; fostering in-house technological developments which generate new initiatives to strengthen industrial leadership; transforming existing industry to make it resilient, competitive and sustainable; fast-tracking decarbonisation in industrial processes to shrink the ecological footprint and mitigate climate change, and ensuring circular management of scarce critical resources, environmental restoration and biodiversity.