Technical University of Cartagena (UPCT) is one of the four public technical universities existing in Spain. It was founded in 1998 and it is organized in five Engineering Schools, a School of Architecture and a Business Faculty. UPCT counts with around 5,400 students (4,500 undergraduate / 600 master / 300 PhD students). UPCT also receives an increasing number of international students, more than 600 in the last academic course, from Europe, Africa, Asia and South America. Staff at UPCT comprise 580 academic staff, 365 administrative staff and 110 supporting staff for research. Moreover, the University Defense Center is a publicly-owned Higher Education Center, attached to the UPCT and one of the four centers that in the Military Academies make up the Network of Defense University Centers in Spain. The Center is dependent on the Ministry of Defense.
UPCT promotes comprehensive education, quality teaching and research and technology transfer according to the guiding principles of equity, transparency, good governance and the UN SDGs. The UPCT Strategic Plan for the period 2021-2025 identifies internationalization and participation in international networks of Higher Education as one of its key strategic lines. The implementation of strategic lines such as institutional promotion, excellence in teaching and research, entrepreneurship and employability or sustainable development will greatly benefit from being part of a European network of technical universities with complementary characteristics. Our innovative model of University-Enterprise cooperation has been recognized and awarded by the Spanish Network of University-Enterprise Foundations. The fact of being a small university allows us to give personalized attention to students.
Research in UPCT covers a broad scope of areas and interests. Research facilities include automation, robotics, industry 4.0, agricultural & food technologies, economy & business, energy, water and environment, soil sciences and mining, industrial & chemical engineering, naval & oceanic technology, marine sciences, electronic & mechanical engineering, building technologies, construction, civil engineering & architecture, urbanism & territorial planning, smart cities, information & communication technologies (ICTs) and technologies for health & wellness.
The UPCT R&D&i own Support Plan has several programs to promote, attract and retain research talent and foster research collaborations. Pre-doctoral contracts, initiation and mobility grants, rewards for results and patent financing are among the measures of the Plan for the present period 2021-2024.
UPCT counts with more than 90 research groups with R&D&i projects highly aligned to those societal challenges appointed by the European Commission. Thus, 85 European projects have been granted with over 17M€ budget in the last 14 years (since 2009). Specifically, the participation of UPCT in the Framework Programmes for Research and Technological Development of the European Commission (FP7, H2020 and Horizon Europe) has been increasing its success rate year after year, obtaining 36 projects with a budget of more than 10 M€ since the beginning of the participation of the UPCT in said program. Other successful participations of UPCT are the Erasmus+ program (28 projects granted – 2.6M€ budget in total) and LIFE program (9 projects granted – 2.2M€ budget in total).
Research at UPCT is closely connected to society and industry. Tech Transfer is one of the core activities with more than 70 patent and utility models awarded, of which around 30% are licensed to companies. UPCT main fields of IPR are electronic and smart devices, software and sensors applied to agriculture (soil, plants, water), marine sciences, space, mobility, logistics, chemical industry and food science. UPCT fosters entrepreneurial skills among students and researchers with our own Entrepreneurship Office, 9 spinoffs generated in the last years and a successful startup accelerator (Cloud Incubator Hub), awarded several times as the “best business incubator in Spain”.