UPSA has inaugurated the third edition of UPSA Emprende, with the City Council of Salamanca as a new partner. Registration is open until 22 November.
The Pontifical University of Salamanca has launched the third edition of UPSA Emprende, the programme that supports students and graduates from the business idea stage to a viable project. According to ecosistemastartup.com, the novelty of this course is the entry of the City Council of Salamanca as a partner, through Salamanca Tech.
The programme, integrated into the CUI 2026-2027, has two pathways. Explora is designed for nascent ideas that need to be defined and validated, while Acelera is for more advanced projects, whose participants have previously engaged in entrepreneurship activities at the University in the previous academic year. Each team works with an assigned mentor.
Students in their second, third, and fourth years of undergraduate studies, as well as master's and doctoral students, and graduates from previous editions can participate. The content covers business models, legal aspects, technological innovation, marketing and sales, customer service, and access to grants and financing.
The programme concludes with a Demo Day, the date of which is yet to be confirmed. The best teams receive 500 euros in Explora and 1,000 euros in Acelera, and can continue in other University initiatives and establish themselves as a startup under the Start-Up of the UPSA brand. Registration remains open until 22 November.
At the inaugural session, titled Inspiration for Entrepreneurship: Success Stories, the creators of YuBi, an application for managing university residences, Miguel and David, shared their journey:
“We started as four friends without a really developable idea. Today we can say that we have developed a functional company and have two clients in the market.”
The Councillor for Economic Promotion, Commerce, Markets, and Youth, César Luis Gómez-Barthe, positioned the initiative within the Salamanca Tech strategy and cited “the 44% growth of technological entrepreneurship in Salamanca.” He added that the province ranks 12th in research and development nationally.
Salamanca Tech includes the biosanitary business incubator ABIOINNOVA, the Tormes+ Training and Entrepreneurship Centre, featuring a FabLab for 3D printing and scanning and laser cutting open to individuals and students, and a centre for the Internet of Things and Artificial Intelligence with nearly a hundred young researchers.
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