In this inaugural session, Luis Ruiz, director of the Master’s Degree in Biomedical Business Management at UIC Barcelona, CEO of Leukos Biotech and an angel investor for spin-offs, explored the meaning of knowledge transfer and the path leading from generation to real societal impact.

During his presentation, Ruiz outlined the key factors for advancing this process, as well as the most common obstacles and the questions that researchers must address. “There is no exact formula for how to transfer knowledge, but we can understand the step-by-step process that makes the journey more understandable,” he explained. Ruiz argued that the end goal of research is transformation: “Knowledge without application has no impact; real impact comes from being able to transform that knowledge into useful services or products for society.”

The speaker also discussed how to keep regulatory or technical barriers from becoming insurmountable obstacles, presenting different types of knowledge transfer that go beyond spin-off creation, such as licensing agreements, consultancy contracts and evidence-based public policies.

The event included a discussion session in which participants had the opportunity to raise questions on key aspects such as development strategies and intellectual property protection, topics which will be explored further in upcoming sessions.

The Knowledge Transfer Sessions series will continue with: “Successfully Navigating the Regulatory Maze” (22 April), with Oriol Penon, Innovation director at the consultancy firm Asphalion; “The Art of Patenting While Publishing” (29 April), with Bernabé Zea, ZBM Patents & Trademarks; and “University-Industry Collaboration: The Industrial Doctorate Model” (6 may), with Jordi Alba, technical director of the Government of Catalonia’s Industrial Doctorate Plan.

The sessions will be held from 13.00 to 14.30 on the Sant Cugat Campus.