IE Business School and TECNALIA Ventures Partner to Drive Deep Tech Startups and Talent Development

With the aim of fostering innovation and talent in the deep tech sector, IE Business School, recognized as one of the most innovative business schools in the world by international rankings, and TECNALIA, one of the largest center of applied research and technological development in Europe, have announced a strategic partnership to catalyze the development and scaling of deep tech startups, provide internship and career opportunities for IE Business School students and alumni, develop capstone projects, and host events to promote debate and bridge academia and industry.

IE Business School and TECNALIA, supported by its Deep Tech Venture Builder, TECNALIA Ventures, will provide deep tech startups with the resources, mentorship and network needed to scale effectively. By leveraging TECNALIA Venture's experience in managing deep tech venture building processes with IE Business School’s strength in shaping leaders who drive innovation and change within organizations, startups will gain access to cutting-edge research, development tools, top talent, management skills and business insights. 

As the Head of TECNALIA Ventures, Asier Rufino, mentions: "The potential to create new value chains is awakening the interest of policymakers on deep tech, due to its potential for driving regional reindustrialization and technological sovereignty, key items in the European Innovation Agenda. For succeeding in this endeavor, you need to develop ecosystems that generate well-rounded teams combining both scientific but also entrepreneurial and business acumen. This is the main objective of this alliance."

"We welcome this opportunity to collaborate with TECNALIA on a shared purpose of promoting innovation, research, and the entrepreneurial spirit which is so embedded within the DNA of IE Business School and throughout the entire IE University."
Manuel López Martín De Blas, Vice Dean of Business Tech Programs at IE Business School

"The deep sector represents great opportunity for our students, for the startup ecosystem, and also for Europe – and, together with TECNALIA, we have the opportunity to develop the talent and the technologies that will contribute to societal progress and economic growth."

A key focus of the partnership is preparing the next generation of innovators and leaders of deep tech. Thus, IE Business School students will have the opportunity to pursue internships within TECNALIA’s diverse portfolio, including a recently created spin-off on photovoltaics, pioneering perpetual flights. In addition, IE Business School students can choose to participate in capstone projects with TECNALIA. These projects will focus on smart manufacturing, health and food, digital transformation, urban ecosystem, energy transition, circular economy and sustainable mobility.  Both the internship and capstone projects will provide IE Business School with the unique opportunity to apply what they’ve learned in the classroom to finding viable solutions to real-world technological challenges. Furthermore, IE Business School alumni will have full access to the wide array of top leadership opportunities offered in Tecnalia’s deep tech portfolio companies.

About TECNALIA

TECNALIA is the largest applied research and technological development center in Spain, a benchmark in Europe and a member of the Basque Research and Technology Alliance. Collaborates with companies and institutions to improve their competitiveness, people's quality of life and achieve sustainable growth, thanks to a team of more than 1,500 people committed to building a better world through technological research and innovation. This is why TECNALIA's research has a real impact on society and generates benefits in terms of quality of life and progress. 

Its main areas of action are: smart manufacturing, digital transformation, energy transition, sustainable mobility, health and food, urban ecosystem and circular economy. In the latest awareness and positioning study carried out by the European Research Survey ERS in 2022, TECNALIA occupies the first position in R&D&I brand awareness.

Through TECNALIA Ventures, its deep tech venture builder, the center values its investment in R&D&I, identifying and managing business opportunities based on sophisticated technologies (deep tech). To do this, it deploys a venture building process that allows it to connect the three fundamental pillars of any innovation ecosystem: people who generate technology based ideas (minds), managers capable of transforming technological ideas into business opportunities (management) and investors who bet on deep tech entrepreneurial initiatives (money).