Fomento de San Sebastián and CEIT promote innovation and young talent in the field of advanced services to industry by renewing their alliance

Councilwoman Ane Oyarbide visited the CEIT facilities to sign the new agreement that reinforces San Sebastian's commitment to become a benchmark for science and innovation with social impact.

The signature the new agreement allows the development of strategies for the promotion and socialization of entrepreneurship, the attraction and loyalty of young talent and technology transfer.

Fomento de San Sebastian and the research center CEIT have renewed their commitment to consolidate the city as a hub of science and innovation. The new agreement, signed during a visit to the CEIT facilities by the Councilor for Economics and Local employment , Ane Oyarbide, accompanied by Iñigo Olaizola,General Manager Fomento de San Sebastián, will allow the development of joint strategies to promote entrepreneurship, attract and retain young talent, and promote technology transfer.

CEIT is a non-profit research center , integrated within the Basque Research and Technology Alliance (BRTA), which was created by the University of Navarra in 1982 and whose mission statement is to improve the competitiveness of companies through technology transfer and training of young researchers.

In the words of Ane Oyarbide, Councilor for Economics and Local employment , "we continue to reaffirm our commitment to science, innovation and talent as the cornerstones of our model of sustainable economic development . The renewal of the partnership agreement with CEIT is a concrete sample of this strategic commitment: an alliance with a reference letter technology center, with an outstanding ability to train young researchers and integrate them into leading projects with international projection. In final, a way to build a more competitive, innovative and better prepared city for the challenges of the future".

Juan Meléndez, Ceit 's CEO director has expressed that "for Ceit, the signature of this new agreement with Fomento de San Sebastián reaffirms the mutual and continued commitment of a solid public-private partnership relationship, with the common goal of promoting the growth and economic development of Donostia. Both entities share a commitment to talent, technology transfer and the promotion of entrepreneurship, and our projects and initiatives are naturally aligned in that direction. The support of Fomento San Sebastian during all these years has been fundamental to connect with local talent and business , helping us to bring our technology to a more general public through activities such as WeekInn or the Donostia Innovation Challenge. In addition, we would particularly like to highlight the generosity and flexibility shown by Fomento San Sebastian more than a decade ago when we co-created the Bono Tecnológico program".

Strategic partnership areas

As an example of partnership, CEIT actively participates in the promotion of STEM vocations since 2019 as a mentor entity in the Donostia Innovation Challenge, a program of technological challenges organized by the Municipal Society for the city's educational centers. It has also been present in all editions of the Talent Fair organized by Fomento de San Sebastián.

In addition, both entities collaborate in scientific knowledge dissemination activities to promote vocations among young people, make equality in science visible and bring research closer to the public, especially during the WeekINN Innovation Week. Within the Innovation Week, CEIT was recognized in 2019 with the DSSINN for being a reference entity in the promotion of innovation in the city, in addition to having an excellent projection and international connections with top-level entities and hubs.

On the other hand, since the opening of Talent House in 2011, 23 professionals have been hosted by the entity, 10 of them PhDs. In addition, in 2017, both entities signed a specific agreement to promote CEIT s IoT Space as a project core topic to retain local talent and offer professional development opportunities.

The partnership also extends to the field of entrepreneurship. CEIT identifies projects with potential to refer them to the EKINN+ acceleration program of Fomento de San Sebastián, where four spin-offs of the research center have already been mentored. A current example is BideRoad, a CEIT spin-off that is developing a pilot project based on artificial intelligence to improve the maintenance management of four of the city's road networks, an initiative that emerged from the Innovative Ideas Competition of the Sociedad de Fomento.

CEIT was the first center with which the Technology Vouchers were launched in 2014. Since then, 88 technology vouchers have been managed for a total value of €911,000, facilitating the access of companies from San Sebastian to advanced services for industry.

A consolidated innovation ecosystem

San Sebastian has a solid research ecosystem: 30 centers integrated in the Basque Science and Technology network , an investment in research and development of 325.4 million euros in 2023, and 3.7% of its GDP dedicated to innovation, well above the European, regional and state averages.

The city employs more than 6,300 professionals in the sector - 4.6% of its active population - and leads all provincial capitals in terms of employment intensity in research and development , according to the COTEC Foundation's Map of Technological employment .