Ciutat de les Arts becomes invention lab

A university science fair is taking over one of Valencia’s most recognizable public spaces — and that matters because the whole point is to make research feel less sealed off. (upv.es)romenade of the Ciutat de les Arts i les Ciències, next to the Museu de les Ciències, into its 2026 Fira dels Invents. The pitch is simple: real projects, real (upv.es)nough to stop walking and start touching things. This is not a conference hidden behind badges. It is an open-air demo floor. (upv.es) ### What is this fair, exactly? Fira dels Invents is UPV’s public-facing showcase for research and innovation. The university describes it as an interactive way to see what its labs and students are actually building across health, environment, transport, culture, and computing — basically, the stuff that usually stays inside departments and grant proposals. (upv.es) ### What happens on May 8? The event runs from 10:30 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. on May 8, 2026. Visitors will be able to move through 34 research and innovation stands and join 17 outreach workshops designed fo(upv.es)t the fair is framed as open and free for the wider public too. (valenciaplaza.com) ### What kind of inventions are actually there? The range is broader than the usual “look, a rob(upv.es)ill include projects tied to robotics, artificial intelligence, space, sustainable cities, sustainable agriculture, biomedical engineering, telecommunications, and audiovisual creation. Other previews mention satellites, drones, solar vehicles, and hands-on experiments with light and sound, which gives you a better feel for the mix: some frontier tech, some engineering demos, some things kids can poke at without a vocabulary lesson first. (upv.es) ### Why put it at the Ciutat de les Arts? Because location does a lot of the work. The Ciutat de les Arts i les Ciències is already Valencia’s big public symbol for science, design, and spectacle. Putting the fair on the promenade next to the science museum turns passing foot traffic into potential visitors and makes the event feel civic, not campus-bound. Basically, UPV is borrowing one of the city’s most visible stages to say that university research belongs in public view. That’s an inference from the setup, but it fits the event design. (upv.es) ##(upv.es)m the Instituto de Tecnología Química, a UPV-CSIC center taking part in the fair. Its team plans a workshop called “Misión invisible: cazando CO2,” where children experiment with carbon dioxide, plus a stand showing a prototype photocatalytic reactor designed to produce ammonia using sunlight. That is exactly the fair’s formula in miniature: climate and chemistry research translated into something visual, tactile, and legible in a few minutes. (itq.upv-csic.es) ### How big is t(upv.es)ition tied to Fira dels Invents featured 25 UPV stands and 12 outreach workshops, alongside the school robotics competition Desafío Robot. This year’s preview points to 34 stands and 17 workshops, while one local report counts 51 science stands in total across the broader setup. The cleanest takeaway is growth — more exhibits, more activities, and a more ambitious footprint. (cac.es) ### Why does this matter beyond one day out? Because universities constantly say they want(itq.upv-csic.es)ngible before someone has chosen a degree. A fair like this lowers the barrier. You do not need to know the jargon. You just need to show up, watch a demo, ask a question, and maybe realize that AI, clean chemistry, telecoms, or biomedical engineering are not abstract fields — they are things people in your city are building right now. (upv.es) ### Bottom line? UPV is using a landmark public space to turn researc(cac.es)t is not just the tech on display — it is the format, which treats curiosity as something you can design for. (upv.es)