From the lab to investment: SPIN UPV 2026 analyzes the business potential of its projects
20/07/2026
The Mid Term session of the scientific entrepreneurship program at the Universitat Politècnica de València (UPV) reviewed the evolution of the 17 participating projects toward becoming knowledge-based companies with investment capacity.
A technology can be innovative, protected, and address a real problem. However, to transform into a company capable of growing, it must overcome an additional question: is it investable?
This issue was the focus of the SPIN UPV 2026 Mid Term session, held this morning at the Polytechnic City of Innovation, where participating projects reviewed the work carried out during the first half of the program’s sixth edition.
The day began with a welcome from Salvador Coll, Vice-Rector for Innovation and Transfer at the UPV, and Fernando Conesa, Director of UPV Innovation, who highlighted the role of spin-offs in transferring research results to the market and their economic impact on the productive sector of the Valencian Community.
A joint review of the projects
Following the opening, Irene Jiménez, head of the SPIN UPV program, presented the general status of the projects and their evolution during the first few months. A joint review of the progress achieved, shared needs, and upcoming milestones for the future companies was presented.
The session allowed for the identification of progress made, needs shared by the teams, and the main challenges they still face to transform their technologies into viable business proposals.
Currently, 17 spin-off project teams are participating in the SPIN UPV Program, covering phases prior to incorporation, which include training, building a founding team, preparing a business plan, technology maturation, contact with investors and other ecosystem agents, and negotiating the terms of the company’s creation.
Is your spin-off investable?
The central axis of the meeting was the talk “Is your spin-off investable?”, given by Enrique Penichet, founding partner of Draper B1. The session invited teams to analyze their initiatives from an investor’s perspective: a high-value technology is the starting point, but there must also be a relevant market, a differentiated proposal, a suitable team, and a model with growth capacity.
The intervention addressed common challenges for university spin-offs, such as clearly identifying the problem they solve, validating customer needs, defining a market access strategy, and establishing milestones prior to a funding round. The day concluded with a discussion and networking session, where teams shared experiences and applied these reflections to their own projects.
A growing spin-off ecosystem
SPIN UPV is part of the University’s strategy to convert its scientific and technological capabilities into new companies. Since its launch in 2021, the program has supported more than 90 business projects and contributed to the creation of more than 15 spin-offs. In 2026, Valyra Aerospace, an aeronautical company specialized in the design, manufacture, and commercialization of unmanned aerial systems (UAVs), was recognized as a new UPV Spin-Off. Additionally, another UPV Spin-Off will be added this month: ZZPharma, focused on the development of biopharmaceuticals. Along these lines, the development plan for this edition anticipates that 5 more projects will consolidate as spin-offs during 2026, reaching a forecast of 7 new UPV Spin-Offs throughout this year.
To facilitate the creation of knowledge-based companies from the University, the SPIN UPV 2026 call has a maximum allocation of 235,000 euros and provides grants of up to 45,000 euros per project.
Now, having reached the midpoint of the annual edition, the spin-off project teams face the challenge of demonstrating not only that their technology works, but that it can become a company capable of generating impact and attracting investment.
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