One-liner: the Universitat Politècnica de València's annual startup prize, 20th edition — €30,000 recognising the most innovative and viable startups and companies launched out of the UPV community. Open 23 July → 30 September 2026.
What you get
- A share of a €30,000 prize pool, awarded across the edition's categories.
- Recognition inside the strongest deeptech / engineering / hardware university pipeline in the region, plus the visibility that comes with the StartUPV IDEAS-UPV alumni network (300+ startups since 2012).
- A natural bridge into the rest of the UPV stack — UPVfab and the campus research institutes — for founders who win or place.
Who it's for
- Startups and companies launched by the UPV community — students, researchers, alumni, spin-offs.
- Idea through early stage. The framing is innovative and viable, so a working business case matters as much as the technology.
- Sector-agnostic in principle, but the applicant pool skews hard to deeptech, engineering, semiconductors and hardware, which is where UPV's own strength is.
How to engage
- Apply through IDEAS UPV's calls page.
- Window: 23 July 2026 → 30 September 2026. Announced 22 July 2026.
- Also mirrored on the CEEI Valencia / EmprenemJunts aggregator — a reminder that the CEEI feed is a usable second channel for UPV calls.
Key facts
- XX (20th) edition — one of the oldest continuously-run entrepreneurship prizes in the Valencian university system.
- €30,000 total budget for 2026.
- IDEAS UPV runs a second, separate competition: the Concurso Emprendedor Universitario 2K26 (XIII edition), €15,000 across 13 prizes — a different instrument with its own window; check both.
- An earlier 2026 IDEAS window ran 1–21 April 2026 (closed); the prize call is the autumn one.
2026-09-15 re-verification — open, closes in 15 days
Confirmed live on IDEAS UPV's own site: "¡Presenta tu candidatura hasta el 30 de septiembre!" — XX edition, closes 30 September 2026, registration having opened 23 July. No change to amount or terms.
Also visible on the same page and not yet indexed: the València Semicon Startup Lab bootcamp
(semiconductors, microelectronics, photonics) and the VI Máster en Startup Administration (MSA), whose
scholarship window is open. Neither publishes a confirmed deadline on the site — see the scan's
follow-up table. #status/verify on both.
Relations
- Run by: StartUPV
- See also: StartUPV IDEAS-UPV
- See also: UPVfab
- See also: CEEI Valencia
- See also: VLC Startup Awards 2026