Indra and the University of Alcalá present the IT and Communications, Security and Defence Chair

The University of Alcalá (UAH) and Indra, the premier IT Company in Spain and a leading IT multinational in Europe, have presented the current activities of the Indra-UAH Chair in the fields of Information Technologies and Communications, Security and Defence. The event, celebrated at the Centro Internacional de Estudios Cisnerianos (Palacio de Laredo) was attended by the Chancellor of the University of Alcalá, Fernando Galván; Indra's Executive Vicechairman, Regino Moranchel; the Director of the General Foundation of the University of Alcalá, Francisco López Ferreras and Indra's Director of Innovation, José Luis Angoso, among others.

The excellence and activities of the UAH's research groups, the resemblance of the technical degrees with the projects developed by Indra and the suitable location of the company's centres have boosted extensive work between both institutions for over 20 years, including training programmes and practices in the company. Besides this, Indra leads in demand for engineering professionals from the University of Alcalá. In order to legitimate this collaboration, an agreement was signed in March 18th this year by the University of Alcalá, Indra and the General Foundation of the University of Alcalá (FGUA) to create the Indra-UAH Chair of Information Technologies and Communications, Security and Defence.

The Chair is located at the Edificio Politécnico of the UAH and is held by Manuel Rosa and Pilar Jarabo, both professors of the university in the department of Signal Theory and Communications of the Polytechnic School. Pilar Jarabo explained in detail the initiatives in research, development, innovation, training and knowledge dissemination which started up during the first months after the creation of the Chair. For instance, within this framework, Indra awarded those students with the best academic records in Telecommunications Engineering, in the specialties of Telematics Engineering and Electronic systems; several actions have been undertaken to support participation in international projects; and three training courses have been implemented for UAH students.

In the future, the Chair will continue boosting new R&D+i programmes by means of a collaboration divided into four main pillars: research, development and innovation; knowledge dissemination; training and knowledge transfer to society.

The university as a source of innovation and talent

This initiative is part of Indra's commitment to innovation which is a pillar of its business and the core of its sustainability as a company. For the IT multinational, universities are a critical source of knowledge necessary to maintain its commitment to innovation. For this reason, the company has relations with 150 universities and research centres mainly through Chairs, agreements and R&D+i projects in order to become an international benchmark in terms of enterprise-university technology transfer.

This is the thirteenth Chair Indra creates in collaboration with different universities.

Indra

Indra is the premier Information Technology company in Spain and a leading IT multinational in Europe and Latin America. It is ranked as the second European company in its sector according to investment in R&D with over € 500 M during the last three years. In 2010 revenues reached € 2,557 M and the international market already accounts for a 44%. The company employs more than 35,000 professionals and has clients in more than 110 countries.