On 4 May 2026, DACSA Chair for Excellence and Entrepeneurship Development: from Student to Entrepeneur, fostered by the Universitat de València and the DACSA group, hold the fourth edition of its awards at the Office of the Principal’s Assembly Hall.
The event, which was also a closing ceremony for the 13th year of the Chair’s activity, gathered institutional, academic, and business representatives in an event aimed at recognising entrepeneurial talent.
The ceremony featured the Principal of the Universitat de València, Juan Luis Gandía, who leaded the event along with different authorities, including the Executive Councillor of the DACSA group, Araceli Císcar; the second Deputy Mayor of Valencia City Council, José Vicente Gosálbez; the Managing Director of Labour, Cooperativism and Job Security at the Generalitat Valenciana (Valencian Government), María Lurueña; and the director of the IUDESCOOP Institute, Virginia Simón.
During his intervention, the Principal highlighted the importance of initiatives like this to “promote knowledge transfer and encourage the students to develop an entrepeneurial spirit”, underlining the key role that cooperation between university and business plays.
The event, conducted by the directors of the Chair, Domingo Ribeiro and Carlos Lassala, included the presentation of the finalist projects developed by students, as well as an awards ceremony consisting of three categories: businesses, teaching staff, and professionals.
In the category of businesses, the awards acknoledged the career and contibution to the entrepeneurial ecosystem of Pablo Motos, Eduardo Montón, Antonio García Juan, Andrea Sánchez Vela, and Majo Castillo Faulí.
In the academic field, awards aimed at teaching staff were given to María Guijarro (ESIC University), Javier Sendra (Universitat de València), Ricardo Costa (Universitat de València), Clara Gieure (Catholic University of Valencia) y Juan Prados (University of Granada), for their efforts in promoting entrepeneurship within the scope of teaching and research.
In turn, awards for professionals honoured Adam King, Jordi Sánchez Tarazaga, and Eusebio Navarro, recognising their contribution to fields such as innovation, digitisation, dissemination on media, and promotion of entrepeneurial ecosystem.
The ceremony concluded awarding the best students’ entrepeneurial projects, as well as an institutional closing by the Principal. The event finished with a networking space for attendees, reinforcing this initiative as a meeting point between university, business, and students.
With this fourth edition, the Chair confirms its commitment to promote entrepeneurship and the creation of opportunities for emergent talent, establishing itself as a key platform within Valencian entrepeneurial ecosystem.
