14th CIEU-FEiE 2026 Award for the Most Entrepreneurial Person

On 4 May, the University Entrepreneurship Initiatives Centre (CIEU) of the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB), in collaboration with the Faculty of Economics and Business and the Escola FUAB Formació, held the 14th edition of the CIEU-FEiE 2026 Awards for the Most Entrepreneurial Person. The event, which took place in the Assembly Hall of the Faculty of Economics and Business, brought together students, alumni and institutional representatives for a day dedicated to recognising entrepreneurial talent and the innovative projects emerging from the university community.

The session was introduced by the CIEU coordinator, Tatiana López, who highlighted the importance of fostering entrepreneurship among students and of creating spaces to connect with the business world. Next, the Vice-Rector for Innovation, Transfer and Entrepreneurship, Rosa Maria Sebastián, offered the institutional welcome, emphasising the university's role as a driver of innovation and presenting some of the resources available for students who want to launch a venture from within the UAB itself.

Along the same lines, the Dean of the Faculty of Economics and Business, Àlex Rialp, stressed the faculty's commitment to training professionals capable of leading transformative projects, and underlined the introduction of entrepreneurship-related subjects into the undergraduate curricula. Rialp encouraged the audience to develop their own initiatives, stating that "you have plenty of tools and resources to step into the exciting world of entrepreneurship," and adding that "as a society, we can't afford not to have a large number of people devoted to entrepreneurship, because otherwise society wouldn't move forward."
The event featured a talk by Francesc Serras and Víctor de Cubas, co-CEOs of TECOUS, a startup born out of a Master's Final Project in Law with the aim of simplifying and clarifying the legal language and regulations involved in commercial transactions and in accepting the terms and conditions of any contract. The speakers explained the steps they took to turn their idea into products such as apps and plugins, thanked the UAB for the support received through its business creation and acceleration programmes, mentoring and networking, and recalled that this journey has even led them to present their project at the Mobile World Congress. In this respect, they described themselves as "the first UAB startup."

The winners of the 14th edition of the CIEU-FEiE 2026 Awards were:

• Berta Company Vendrell in the "Hotel Management" category
• Miriam Arévalo Viñas in the "Archival Science and Records Management" category
• Pepe Oltra in the "Prevention and Integral Security" category
• Josep Oltra Sans in the "Tourism" category
• Ana Cristina Paredes and Andrea Isabel Macías in the "Faculty of Economics and Business" category
• Sofia Llàcer Caro in the "General UAB" category

The awards were presented by various institutional and academic representatives from each field, who sought to highlight the quality and impact of the winning projects. The recipients had the chance to share a few words about the motivation behind their initiatives and their goals for the future. The event closed with remarks from the Executive Vice-President of the Fundació UAB, Mariluz Pacheco, who underlined the importance of continuing to promote spaces like this one to support innovation and entrepreneurship in the university setting, and thanked the entrepreneurs for their "effort, courageous attitude and perseverance in pursuing their dreams and contributing to the advancement of society."