Campus-driven company for the digitization of cultural heritage.
The Universitat Politècnica de València (UPV) has added a new spin-off to its entrepreneurial and innovative ecosystem. It is Cityverse Technologies (O-CITY), a company focused on the preservation and dissemination of heritage, culture and traditions of cities through digital technologies.
The agreement to establish the company was signed by the rector of the UPV, José E. Capilla; Professor José Marín-Roig, as research partner, and the six founding partners involved in the technological and business development of the project: Lola Ángel, Marta Asensi, Daniel Burruchaga, Alexander Díaz, Jorge Marín-Roig and Pedro Monteros.
The constitution of O-CITY as spin-off of the UPV “it reinforces the strategic commitment of the Universitat Politècnica de València for applied innovation with social and territorial impact, capable of transferring university knowledge to the field of cultural heritage and making it accessible to the public through digital technologies,” said the rector of the UPV, José E. Capilla. With this incorporation “the UPV now has more than 30 spin-offs of which 23 have the direct participation of the institution, which demonstrates the maturity of our entrepreneurial ecosystem and our capacity to transform”.
For his part, the Gandia Campus professor and researcher José Marín-Roig has indicated that the signing of this spin-off is the first of the Gandia Campus of the UPV, and is “a new challenge that gives life to a project that was born on our campus.
Transfer of university knowledge to the territory
The new company is the result of the results obtained from the technological platform which bears his name, a European project promoted from the Gandia Campus of the UPV that allows the dissemination of cultural heritage, both tangible and intangible. “This initiative shows that we are committed to innovation and entrepreneurship, demonstrating in this case that cultural heritage and technology can go hand in hand,” said the director of the campus, Vicenç Almenar.
The initial project has entered a new phase that includes the recovery of legends and popular stories in digital format: The Angel of Ayora, The legend of Manúrria (Sagunt), La serp de la Venta (Xeraco), La Mare de Déu de la Font (Villalonga) and La Delicà de Gandia are part of the first series of animated short films developed with targeted artificial intelligence tools. These productions demonstrate that “intangible heritage can be translated into accessible visual codes without losing its essence, opening the door to new adaptations and to audiences that have never had contact with these stories before”, explain Jorge Marín-Roig and Pedro Monteros, founding partners of O-CITY.
Currently, the team is working on new productions on local legends and stories from other Valencian municipalities, as well as on international initiatives that apply the same methodology, “which extends the scope of the project and reinforces its working model”, according to thespin-off.
Innovation, culture and local development
The activity of Cityverse Technologies (O-CITY) will focus on offering technological solutions that allow municipalities and cultural entities to digitize and narrate their heritage, traditions and history, connecting technological innovation, culture and territorial development.
With this new spin-off, the UPV consolidates its commitment to promote companies that transform research results into innovative solutions with economic and social impact. In this case, the objective is to apply digital technologies to the field of cultural heritage, facilitating new forms of conservation, dissemination and enhancement of local identity.