The UCLM will have a new R+D+i laboratory in collaboration with Telefónica
The University of Castilla-La Mancha (UCLM) and Telefónica have set up a new research laboratory to develop technological innovation projects in mobile telephony and entrepreneurship in 5G systems, among others. This new infrastructure, which will be installed in the Institute of Technology, Construction and Telecommunications of the Cuenca Campus, extends the collaboration between both organizations since 2015 through the UCLM-Telefónica Chair of Advanced Interaction Systems for Digital Education.
The Institute of Technology, Construction and Telecommunications (ITct) of the Cuenca Campus is the venue chosen for the new Research, Development and Innovation (R+D+i) laboratory of the Telefónica Chair-University of Castilla-La Mancha. This new infrastructure extends the collaboration that both organizations have maintained since 2015 through the Chair of Advanced Interaction Systems for Digital Education and was presented today on the Cuenca campus in a ceremony attended by the rector of the University of Castilla-La Mancha (UCLM), Julián Garde; the general director of Central Territory of Telefónica, Beatriz Herranz Casas; and the director of the UCLM-Telefónica Chair, Miguel Ángel Redondo Duque.
The new laboratory will serve to provide the necessary infrastructure to the UCLM-Telefónica Chair and the Applied Electromagnetism and Signal Processing (GEA) group to research and develop prototypes and systems that improve mobile communications processes in which new applications are used. and emerging devices, such as watches and smartphones, virtual reality devices or augmented reality applications, among other lines of research; as well as the application of artificial intelligence technologies. These new techniques for optimization and applicability of mobile networks could be transferred to Telefónica in the form of knowledge or technology.
In addition, the infrastructure will serve as a connector between the Applied Electromagnetism and Signal Processing group, located at the Cuenca Campus, and the Computer Human Interaction and Collaboration (CHICO) group, based at the Ciudad Real and Almadén Mining and Industrial Engineering, until now the main nucleus of the UCLM-Telefónica Chair.
The synergies and increased activity that the creation of the Telefónica I+D+i Chair Laboratory will mean, on the other hand, will contribute to promoting the development of research, development and innovation projects and favoring the transfer of technology to companies in this field and to society, promoting the technology sector in Castilla-La Mancha. It will also carry out outreach, training and information activities, among others. For the start-up of the laboratory, Telefónica will donate to the UCLM a mobile telephone base station with its corresponding antennas, as well as a mobile communications signal repeater, which will allow studies to be carried out on the transmission of the telephone signal and the development of new mobile communications applications.
“Public-private collaboration model”
The rector expressed his gratitude to Telefónica and to the professors and researchers involved in the project, and stressed that the university-business chairs constitute a model of public-private collaboration of a strategic nature for the academic institution. “A year ago, the University of Castilla-La Mancha had five university-business chairs; Currently, we have thirteen active and three in the process of being established”, explained Julián Garde, who recalled that these cooperation figures “serve to carry out research, development, innovation and transfer; but also as a training tool for students: it undoubtedly positions them in a more competitive plane in the labor market”.
Along the same lines, Beatriz Arranz has insisted that this collaboration aims to favor the university-business relationship. "In this learning environment, companies and universities must intensify their efforts and cooperate to improve the university experience complemented by the business space", he explained, adding that "the Telefónica chairs promote university talent among young people, who are the ones to lead a new digital age. Counting on university talent and creativity, as well as sharing university dynamics with business ones, allows us to move towards new relationship models that enable greater development and a transfer of knowledge that allows students to access multidisciplinary spaces”, has concluded.
Network of Telefónica Chairs
With twenty-four chairs at twenty-six leading Spanish universities, Telefónica now has the largest network of University-business Chairs in our country, a network that, since its creation in 2001, has served as a tool for training, research and knowledge transfer with one objective common: the promotion of new information and communication technologies (ICT) in our society.
