IQS-URL launches a strategic innovation hub in Industry 5.0 and sustainability

Wednesday, May 27, 2026. IQS-URL takes a major step forward in its commitment to innovation and industrial progress with the inauguration of the new INNOHUB IQS-Pilot Plant. With an investment of €7 million, this new technology hub positions IQS-URL and the city of Barcelona on the map of European excellence in Industry 5.0, consolidating a unique ecosystem where university, business, and government converge.

The INNOHUB IQS-Pilot Plant is an ambitious project that directly connects the IQS-URL brand with Barcelona’s productive fabric. It is a talent attraction and retention hub that will allow more than 45 permanent professionals and the entire student and researcher community to work with state-of-the-art scientific equipment on real solutions to current climate and industrial challenges.

2,000 m² of high technology applied to industry

The new infrastructure is organised across four floors designed for multidisciplinary research and interaction between research groups and companies:

Basement floor (Industry 5.0 and advanced manufacturing): covering more than 400 m², this space aligns with the European vision of a circular and regenerative economy. It houses five key laboratories: the Manufacturing Lab (Workshop 5.0), AddiTech Fablab (additive manufacturing), Co-creation Lab (prototypes and entrepreneurship), Smart Factory Lab (AI applied to production), and the Cognitive Machine Lab, where human-machine interactions and digital twins are developed.

Ground floor (Chemical Engineering Pilot Plant): spanning 767 m², it is equipped to implement manufacturing processes at semi-industrial scale. It supports both batch and continuous mode (flow chemistry), a field in which IQS-URL is a national reference.

1st floor (Sustainable Technologies and Nanotechnology): this 650 m² level integrates the Centre for Sustainable Technologies, dedicated to circular economy, water reuse and CO₂ capture, and the Nanotechnology and Advanced Materials Laboratory (300 m²). Its research lines focus on the development of sustainable catalysts and materials for water purification, CO₂ capture and additive manufacturing.

2nd floor and rooftop: a floor dedicated to offices and a seminar room. The installation is completed on the rooftop with solar panels that provide renewable energy for energy efficiency projects.

To address industrial challenges, the centre features state-of-the-art instrumentation, including a magnetic suspension balance for CO₂ capture studies, Micro GC-TCD systems for gas analysis, a Flow Field Fractionation system with light scattering detector, a TPR/TPD/TPO system, and a flexible cell for human-machine interaction studies.

A top-level strategic collaboration

The success of the INNOHUB IQS-Pilot Plant is based on close collaboration between the university and the business community. Of particular note is the participation of HAAS, a world leader in manufacturing technology, which plays a prominent role in the equipment. The plant has its own HAAS laboratory, equipped with precision machinery and additive manufacturing systems, that will allow users to work to the same standards as the world’s most advanced factories.

This collaboration reinforces the hub’s vision as a real Smart Factory, where advanced manufacturing and human-machine interaction are the key pillars. Alongside HAAS, the project has received the support of various leading companies in the country that have joined this innovation ecosystem: AC MARCA, Carburos Metálicos (Air Products Group), Ernesto Ventós S.A., LETI Pharma, LLEAL, Molins, Roca Sanitario and WERFEN.

Inauguration

The official inauguration ceremony of the INNOHUB IQS-Pilot Plant will take place on 4 June at 6:00 PM, with the reception of guests in the lobby of the IQS-URL main building. The event will be presided over by the Honourable Mr Albert Dalmau, conseller (Minister) of the Presidency of the Generalitat de Catalunya.

The event will begin with the institutional welcome by Dr Salvador Borrós, Director General of IQS-URL, followed by the blessing by Fr Pau Vidal, S.J., delegate of Jesuits Catalonia. One of the key moments of the ceremony will be the address by Kathy Looman, Executive Director of the Gene Haas Foundation, reaffirming the strategic weight of the collaboration with HAAS in this project. Following the institutional address by conseller Dalmau, attendees will take a guided tour of the new facilities.

The celebration will conclude with an institutional cocktail reception, including commemorative addresses marking the 25th anniversary of Industrial Engineering studies at IQS-URL, closing a cycle of educational excellence and opening a new one focused on sustainable reindustrialisation and the transfer of cutting-edge technology.