The awards encourage entrepreneurship in technology and science.

The jury panel for the UOC-RMF Prizes, made up of seven academics and professionals linked to entrepreneurship and the IT sector, have selected the finalists for the third year of the awards. Business and development plan for a SaaS based Restaurant Menu System, by Iñaki Bigatà; PaintXYZ: Painting reality through virtual worlds, by Iván Martí; Makit Humbot S: Open-source robot based on Arduino and printed in 3D, by Cristóbal Selma; Web application for the epidemiological control of tuberculosis (TBC) in Manhiça, Mozambique, by Lluís Tartera; Emotion recognition system in speech based on voice signal parameterisation, by Eduard Marcel González and Varroa Laser Removal System, by Ángel Manuel López, have been chosen as the best projects out of the students on the Technology, Multimedia and Telecommunication at the Open University of Catalonia (UOC).

The six finalists will present their projects at an event which will take place on the 1^st December in Palau Macaya in Barcelona, the iconic modernist building constructed by Josep Puig i Cadafalch. Iñaki Bigatà and Iván Martí are in the running to win ‘best business project’,  Cristóbal Selma and Lluís Tartera will be competing for the ‘best project with social impact’, and lastly, Eduard Marcel González and Ángel Manuel López will be up against each other to win ‘best research project of academic excellence’. After the cycle of presentations, the panel will select the best project in each category. The panel will consider the innovation of the work, its creativity, understanding of the opportunities, awareness of society’s problems, the benefits it could bring, its chance of success and the clarity and quality of the presentation. The winners will receive a cheque for 3,000 euros alongside the recognition of having completed the best project in their academic year. However, the prizes will not only recognise the projects of the six finalists. This year, the Ramon Molinas Foundation and the Open University of Catalonia will provide the authors of the 27 best projects, including the six finalists, with the opportunity to make their projects a reality.

The third year of the UOC-RMF Prizes will feature a presentation by Jordi Llonch, founder and Managing Director of Sharing Academy, a peer-to-peer marketplace which allows students to receive and offer private classes to students at the same university, which was awarded the ‘Best App’ at the 2016 Mobile Premier Awards. Jordi Llonch was, coincidentally, a finalist in the first UOC-RMF Prize ceremony in 2014.

The award ceremony will be conducted by Lluís Marquina, director and presenter of Catalonia Television’s Digital Generation. You can follow it live by streaming, and on Twitter with the hashtag #premisUOCRMF.

UOC-RMF Prizes finalists in the category ‘best business project’.

Iñaki Bigatà, Business and development plan for a SaaS based Restaurant Menu System.

Iván Martí, PaintXYZ: Painting reality through virtual worlds.

UOC-RMF Prizes finalists in the category ‘best project with social impact’.

Cristóbal Selma, Makit Humbot S: Open-source robot based on Arduino and printed in 3D.

Lluís Tartera, Web application for the epidemiological control of tuberculosis (TBC) in Manhiça, Mozambique.

UOC-RMF Prizes finalists in the category ‘best research project of academic excellence’.

Eduard M. González, Emotion recognition system in speech based on voice signal parameterisation.

Ángel M. López, Varroa Laser Removal System.