The Lehendakari inaugurates the new Hirekin sustainable industrial innovation and enterprise centre

• The centre, led by the Higher Polytechnic School of Mondragon Unibertsitatea, will be a benchmark in the development of entrepreneurship and sustainable innovation projects in the industrial and technological fields, with the design and validation of prototypes
• Hirekin aims to promote industrial, technological and digital entrepreneurship with criteria rooted in sustainability to transform industry into a more sustainable, decarbonised and digitised sector

The Lehendakari, Imanol Pradales, inaugurated the Mondragon University's Hirekin sustainable industrial innovation and entrepreneurship centre in Arrasate at midday this afternoon, in the presence of numerous institutional representatives and figures from the worlds of business and finance. The Higher Polytechnic School of Mondragon Unibertsitatea is leading this new Innovation and Entrepreneurship Centre, built upon the pillars of industrial and technological entrepreneurship, digitalisation and sustainability (in environmental, economic and social terms). The investment in the project, the only one of its kind in the State, reaches 9 million euros. Initially, between 25 and 40 people will work at the centre, with other researchers and entrepreneurs joining them. The centre will be at the forefront of the development of entrepreneurship and sustainable innovation projects in the industrial and technological fields and also in the development of prototypes

Closed projects and forecasts

For the start of the 2024/25 academic year, Hirekin has already planned 3 company projects in the fields of digitalisation, sustainability and technological innovation, aimed at addressing current industry challenges and generating high-impact solutions. Specifically, these will be projects for the development, prototyping and industrialisation of new technologies, new products and new production processes, with a high level of specialisation, which requires purposely designed spaces with the capacity to house large volumes, weights or environmental conditions. Four years from now, during the 2028/2029 academic year, it is estimated that 36 projects, 54 entrepreneurs and 67 students will come through the centre.

The new centre is conceived as a space for collaboration between companies, entrepreneurs, research staff and students from both the Higher Polytechnic School and other faculties of Mondragon Unibertsitatea along with third parties, who will work to build a sustainable industry and a more competitive economy. All of them will work in a network to develop entrepreneurship and intrapreneurship projects that will enable the necessary transition towards a sustainable industry.

 Given that this is an open project, companies and entities can join the project with different roles: participation in an advisory board to contribute to the strategy, sponsoring students and entrepreneurship projects, as a  promoter with the capacity to attract projects and contribute their vision of governance based on cooperative values.

Hirekin is led by Mondragon Unibertsitatea and the university, led by a number of Basque socio-economic stakeholders and institutions. There are currently around a dozen organisations involved in the initiative and more organisations and entities are expected to join in the future. For the moment, the project is being promoted by the MONDRAGON Corporation, Saiolan, Laboral Kutxa, Grupo Fagor and Gizabidea Foundation, the Debagoiena Community, Isea, Galbaian, Krean, Orbea, the Garaia Technology Park, the promoters of the centre (Mondragon Unibertsitatea and Mondragon Goi Eskola Politeknikoa), and the Mondragon Promotion Centre. However, as this is an open project, it is expected that more organisations and entities will join the initiative in the future.

Hirekin will contribute to the decarbonisation, digitalisation and sustainability of industry and the technology sector. In fact, it aspires to become a centre of reference for sustainable industry and high added value, through entrepreneurship, intra-entrepreneurship, research, education and an open model of inter-cooperation that allows the transfer of knowledge between different agents.

Sustainable industrial entrepreneurship

Entrepreneurship is in itself a challenge, and when it comes to industry, the challenge becomes even greater: in size, in weight and in risk, as do the products, services and processes, particularly hardware-based ones, which are part of this activity. Spaces that accommodate these types of activities require highly demanding industrial characteristics and Hirekin is designing as a space to make this possible.

The centre, with 6,000 square metres of facilities, has a large industrial space where prototyping, simulation and experimentation equipment has been installed, and has space for workshops and computer rooms, as well as other co-creation spaces and meeting rooms, among others. The Higher Polytechnic School of Mondragon Unibertsitatea will contribute through the entrepreneurial talent of its students and the talent and technological resources of its research groups, through its laboratories and workshops at other sites, thus increasing the resources at the service of Hirekin and industrial transformation.

Hirekin stakeholders will also be able to make use of the industrial-scale equipment at the university’s laboratories and workshops at other sites, thus increasing the resources at the service of Hirekin and industrial transformation.

The centre will work to find new solutions to reduce emissions in existing industry, as well as to promote new economic activities aligned with environmental objectives. Hirekin will be open to society, based on cooperative principles, will oversee collaboration between companies and stakeholders from the region and beyond, working for a sustainable and just industrial transition. 

Sustainable building

The new Hirekin building has the ERAS certificate for sustainable construction, as it has been built using reusable and biodegradable materials. Solar panels have been installed, as well as smart systems to improve energy efficiency, solutions for water efficiency and closing the water cycle, heat recovery from nearby industrial facilities, along with many other measures.