Santander X Spain Awards │ Startup Universitaria 2026
The Santander X Spain Awards │ Startup Universitaria 2026 program recognizes and supports the best university startups in the acceleration phase, legally incorporated in Spain and linked to a participating university.
Driven by Banco Santander through the Santander X platform, the program offers visibility, national projection, and a cash prize to support the development of innovative and disruptive solutions with a technological or knowledge-based foundation.
From StartUB!, as the innovation and entrepreneurship unit of the Universitat de Barcelona, we support and coordinate the participation of our university community in this call.
- Recognize the most innovative university startups with the greatest impact potential.
- Promote projects in the acceleration phase with scalability capacity.
- Connect entrepreneurial university talent with the national business ecosystem.
- Enhance the visibility and projection of startups linked to the Universitat de Barcelona.
Startups that meet the requirements established in Law 28/2022 and that:
- Are legally incorporated in Spain.
- Have a technological or knowledge-based foundation.
- Are in the acceleration phase.
- Are generating revenue and/or have raised seed capital.
Additionally, at least one team member must:
- Be a student or graduate (maximum 5 years since graduation) from a participating university.
- Or be a professor, researcher, or formally affiliated staff member of the university.
- Or be linked as an entrepreneur or mentor within the university.
- And reside in Spain.
The Universitat de Barcelona will verify compliance with these requirements in accordance with the official terms and conditions.
Winning startups will receive:
- €4,000 to develop their entrepreneurial solution.
- Visibility on Grupo Santander’s official channels and on the Santander X platform.
- Possibility of direct access to the program’s national final.
- Opportunity to compete for additional financial and in-kind prizes at the national level.
- Potential access to mentoring sessions (as determined by the University).
The cash prize must be used entirely for the development of the winning project.
The selection process will be carried out in three phases:
1. Pre-selection phase
Review of applications and verification of compliance with the requirements established in the legal terms and conditions.
Notification of application status: May 8, 2026.
2. Evaluation phase
Pre-selected projects will be evaluated by experts appointed by the Universitat de Barcelona.
Evaluation criteria:
- Impact potential
- Quality of innovation
- Feasibility
- Scalability
- Competitive advantage
- Team structure
Announcement of finalist startups: June 2, 2026.
3. Final phase – Jury presentation
Finalist startups will present their project before a jury (maximum 4-minute pitch + 3 minutes of questions).
Presentation period: from June 3 to July 1, 2026.
Announcement of winning startups: July 2, 2026.
