The rector of the University of Zaragoza, Rosa Bolea, has presented the work of these partnerships, which currently comprise 110 Institutional and Corporate Chairs and generate sponsorship contributions of around €3 million a year. These funds are used to carry out activities of shared interest that have a direct impact on society.
“Behind every chair there is much more than an agreement between the University and a company or institution. There are shared projects, research, training, talent, outreach and, above all, a shared commitment to the progress of our society,” Bolea said. “The chairs enable the University and its surrounding community to work together to address shared challenges. They help us identify new needs, promote applied research, encourage vocations, create opportunities for our students and bring university talent closer to businesses and institutions,” she added.
FROM ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE TO MEDICAL RESEARCH
Manuel González Bedia, the University of Zaragoza’s vice-rector for Innovation, Knowledge Transfer and Lifelong Learning, highlighted the wide range of subjects covered by these partnerships. “One of the great strengths of our chairs is the diversity of the fields of knowledge and topics they address. Virtually all major areas of knowledge are represented, from engineering and new technologies to health sciences, social sciences, the humanities and the sciences,” he said.
This diversity, according to González Bedia, reflects the University of Zaragoza’s ability to connect very different disciplines with the needs of companies, institutions and society. The chairs work in areas including artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, the energy transition, sustainability, medical research, public health, educational innovation, social inclusion, depopulation, democratic memory and the preservation of cultural heritage, among others.
NEW VISUAL IDENTITY: THE TALENT THAT DRIVES SOCIETY
The press conference also saw the presentation of the new visual identity of the Institutional and Corporate Chairs, which are launching a new logo and image under the concept “The talent that drives society.” With this renewal, the University of Zaragoza aims to further raise the visibility and recognition of these partnerships, focusing on one fundamental idea: connection.
The chairs are an open window from the University to society, a meeting place between knowledge and the needs of the surrounding community. They are alliances between companies, institutions and the university community. “The new logo symbolizes this window open to the outside and incorporates a reference to the scientific universe of our distinguished Santiago Ramón y Cajal. His research into neural networks provides an image suggesting how connections can transmit knowledge and generate new possibilities,” the vice-rector explained.
The video introducing this new identity uses the flight of starlings as a visual metaphor. These birds form large flocks and appear to move as a single organism. “They do not follow a single leader; instead, each one adapts its movement to that of the bird nearby. From these individual connections emerges a collective, dynamic and coordinated structure,” the University explained. “As with the chairs, every company, every institution and every university team contributes its knowledge and experience. It is the connection between everyone that multiplies our possibilities and enables us to go further,” the academic institution concluded.
