Living Labs 2023 Closing

In June 2023, all the Urban Shift student entrepreneurs and trainers descended on Barcelona for the closing ceremony of Living Labs 2023.

Since Vienna, this was the first time the students were working again together in person. The workshop days focused around the finalisation of the pitch, prototyping, team activities, feedback sessions and insights into what comes next.

In addition, the group had the chance to visit IAAC’s Valldaura Labs, home to several green and innovative prototypes including Spain’s first clay 3D printed house TOVA. Students were able to explore the grounds before we tested out their results of the the egg parachute team building challenge.

The trip to Barcelona also included the final pitch ceremony and celebration. The entrepreneurs had the opportunity to pitch their ideas in front of an expert panel including academicians and business experts.
Our jury included:
Areti Markopoulou – Architect & Researcher – Academic Director of IAAC
Mathilde Marengo – Architect, Urbanist & Researcher – Head of Studies at IAAC
Miguel Casteneda – Global Sustainability Expert – Director of Ennea Sustainability Consulting Firm
Ayman Moghnieh – Innovation & Business Development Consultant – Senior Consultant at Naked Innovations
Daniel de Yzaguirre Fraile – Senior Financial Advisor at Accio

Our jury was thoroughly impressed by the results of the start-ups and what they had achieved in such a short amount of time. One of the jury members even expressed interest in supporting some of the start-ups in their next steps. Find out more about the start-ups here.

The evening culminated in a ‘pica pica’, Spanish Tapas, to celebrate the work of the entrepreneurs and to allow them to network. We look forward to see what they all do next!