Fundación LAB Mediterráneo challenges students of the Universitat de València to transform talent into business innovation
Valencia, February 12, 2025. – Fundación LAB Mediterráneo, a project promoted by the Employers’ Association of Valencia (AVE), today held, in collaboration with the University of Valencia (UV), the Office of the Vice-Rector for Innovation and Transfer, UV Emprén and the Faculty of Economics, an innovation challenge based on transforming talent into business innovation. Under the title “Human capital as strategic capital: Transforming talent into business innovation”, a dialogue was set up between students and companies to find innovative solutions and promote collaboration between the academic and business worlds.
This is the fourth innovation challenge organized by the Foundation, following those carried out in recent years, the first in Valencia entitled “Checking urban mobility”; the second, in Castellón under the title “Challenge Your Future: Make it Circular”. And the third, in Alicante on “How to improve a company using Artificial Intelligence”.
During the conference held at the UV, the participants offered solutions to help improve collaboration between professionals from the company and its ecosystem in order to generate innovation or to introduce innovations in knowledge management. Students participating in the challenge had different degrees, such as business administration and management, international business, law, data science, finance and accounting, medicine, tourism, among others. To develop their solutions to the challenge, they were supported by mentors from organizations such as Aquaservice, Deloitte, Familia Martínez/KM ZERO, Grupo Bertolín, GDES, Grupo Gimeno, Logifruit and Nunsys Group.
The opening of the event by the Universitat de València was the responsibility of the Dean of the Faculty of Economics, Paco Muñoz, and the Vice-Rector for Innovation and Transfer, Rosa Donat. Throughout the morning, the trustees of Fundación LAB Mediterráneo interacted with the different teams of students, helping and guiding them in solving the challenge. To conclude the day, each team of students publicly presented their solution to the challenge posed.
After the jury’s deliberation, the awards ceremony and the closing ceremony took place. This was followed by a cocktail party to promote networking between entrepreneurs, students and representatives of the educational community.
Fundación LAB Mediterráneo
Fundación LAB Mediterráneo is a project created by AVE with the mission of positioning the Region of Valencia as a national and European benchmark in entrepreneurship, innovation, technology and research.
To achieve this, it has set itself five objectives: to promote the creation and attraction of technology start-ups; to work to attract national and international technology companies to set up in the Region of Valencia and create a ‘tractor effect’; to promote support for companies in non-technological sectors to accelerate their digital transformation; to contribute to increasing private investment in R&D&I; and to help promote research.
The Foundation’s Board of Trustees is made up of the following entities: Aceitunas Cazorla, Aquaservice/Plug and Play, AVE, Baleària, Banco Sabadell, Boluda Corporación Marítima, CaixaBank, Dacsa Group, Deloitte, Embutidos Martínez/KMZERO, GDES, Grupo Bertolín, Grupo Gimeno, Helados Estiu, Importaco, Lanzadera, Logifruit, Nunsys, Royo/ Invext, S2 Grupo y SPB/Cleanity.
