Business Chairs Conference

A total of 110. These are the current corporate chairs and classrooms at the Universitat Politècnica de València, which generate more than €6.5 million annually and aim primarily to improve student employability.

These figures position the UPV as the leading Spanish university in terms of the number of active chair agreements. They were made public at the presentation of the Business Chairs Conference, a meeting point between the university and society that enables companies and institutions to gain an in-depth understanding of everything that a UPV chair can offer them.

During the opening of the conference, the rector of the UPV, José E. Capilla, recalled that 'in just a decade, we have gone from 53 to 110 chairs, a growth of 108%, reflecting our ongoing commitment to knowledge transfer and innovation.'

Next, the Director of the Employment and Business Chairs Area, Ignacio Gil Pechuán, gave the floor to Juan Montaner, an investor and independent financial market analyst, who presented the paper 'AI and Security, from hacking systems to manipulating people'.

The present and future of the chairs was the central theme of the round table moderated by David Vivas, director of the Esteve Chair for Health Economics and Management. The participants were Begoña Serrano Lanzarote, director of the Maderamen Chair; David Moratal Pérez, director of the QUAES-ASCIRES Foundation Chair; Fernando Cos-Gayón López, Director of the BECOMU Chair – Transparency in Construction, Bertolín and Housing Observatory; Rosario Arizo Ballester, President of the Juan Arizo Serrulla Foundation; and Ana Darder Navarro, founding partner of EDICOM and member of the Social Council of the UPV. The discussion provided valuable insights into the current situation of the chairs from both the academic community and the business world. It concluded with some possible improvements for the near future.

The closing ceremony was led by Elena de la Poza, Vice-Rector for Employment, Lifelong Learning, and Languages, and featured music from the Jazz School Association, Sedajazz.