Progress with Purpose — SDG Impact Report 2025–2026, IE University

The IE Climate Tech Lab is an eight-week venture-building program in which interdisciplinary teams turn real climate technologies into business opportunities.

Its starting point is that many breakthrough technologies in energy, materials, the circular economy and industrial systems already exist, but too few reach the market. Scientists, engineers, investors, corporations and policymakers often work with different languages, incentives and time horizons. The Lab helps close that gap by turning research into viable ventures.

The first edition brought together nine venture teams working with technologies from Tecnalia, the Lab's pilot technology partner, and IE University research initiatives. The winning team, RecoPGM, developed a venture around Tecnalia technology for recovering platinum group metals from catalytic converters. The team later visited the laboratories behind the technology in Bilbao and San Sebastián. Finalists presented their ventures at Climate Tech Day 2026 to leaders from the scientific, industrial and financial sectors.

In December 2025, Spidey Tek won IE Venture Day Madrid, an initiative organized by IE University to recognize the leading startups created by its entrepreneurial students and alumni. The venture also received the IE Sustainability Award.

Spidey Tek is developing the world's first plant-based spider-silk production platform. Industry needs materials that are stronger, lighter, more sustainable and more affordable, without changing existing manufacturing processes. Spidey Tek's alfalfa-based platform produces spider silk proteins for high-performance materials, with potential uses in textiles, industrial adhesives and composites. By producing bio-based recombinant spider silk, the venture aims to reduce reliance on petroleum-derived materials such as carbon fiber and elastane.

Green Industry in Latin America: Investment Challenges in the Face of Climate Change

Alinnea and the IE School of Politics, Economics & Global Affairs launched a competition that asked students to tackle green industrial development in Latin America, in the context of COP30. Working in interdisciplinary teams, students received expert mentoring, carried out policy research and met with industry representatives and Alinnea experts. The result was a set of evidence-based policy recommendations for Brazil, Chile and Mexico.

The program ended with a final competition, where teams presented their proposals to an international jury of diplomats from the three countries and experts from Alinnea. The winning team visited the Heineken brewery in Seville to see how sustainable manufacturing and the circular economy work in practice.

More than 80 undergraduate students from different degree programs and years of study took part. They sharpened their analytical and teamwork skills. They also gained a closer view of climate governance and sustainability policy.

The IE Law School Legal Clinic is one of the Labs, bringing the same hands-on approach to law. Students apply their legal knowledge to social challenges, supporting organizations and communities that work for access to justice and human rights.

During the 2025-26 academic year, the Clinic delivered national and international projects on issues of public interest. In one, it worked with the IE AI Lab on legal literacy and access to rights for people deprived of their liberty. Other projects covered disability in legal proceedings, migration and asylum, equality and human rights, and the use of emerging technologies by public authorities.

Working with civil society organizations, legal practitioners and international experts, students produced reports, practical guides, legal submissions and policy recommendations.

The IE Center for Social Innovation and Sustainability promotes social innovation and sustainability through applied research and partnerships. Its projects have directly supported more than 1,100 beneficiaries, including social entrepreneurs and small business owners. It works with partners around the world to share knowledge and resources with the IE community and beyond.

Driving innovation through knowledge and partnerships

The Center puts expertise into practice through collaborative initiatives that support social entrepreneurs and impact-driven businesses.

• The Fundación MAPFRE Awards for Social Innovation recognize solutions that improve well-being, advance inclusion and respond to demographic change, helping entrepreneurs extend their reach.
• The Travel4Impact Program helps travel and tourism businesses grow through training, mentoring and peer learning while advancing their social and environmental goals.

Turning research into action.

Through applied research, the Center generates actionable insights into complex social and environmental challenges. Working with partners across sectors, it explores areas such as inclusion, children's rights, demographic change, technology for impact and community-led development, informing better decisions and helping shape practical, scalable solutions.

SDG 12: Responsible Consumption and Production

Fruitful, a project led by an exchange student and supported by the Townhall, invited participants to make vegan leather from grass leaves as an alternative to conventional leather. In a hands-on workshop, participants made and customized keychains, exploring how organic waste can become a new material through experimentation and creative design.