Beyond ICFO 2026 explores science careers within Barcelona’s innovation ecosystem
The annual career event brought ICFO Alumni back to share their experience building scientific careers in the city, together with a keynote by Josep Ll. Sanfeliu, Managing Partner at Asabys Partners and President of Barcelona Global.
On 23 October, ICFO hosted Beyond ICFO 2026, the annual career event that looks to members of our Alumni Network to share their experience and help guide both current ICFOnians and fellow Alumni who are considering new professional options.
This year’s edition focused on Barcelona as a destination for scientific talent, with Alumni panellists sharing their insights on building a science-based career within the city’s innovation ecosystem.
The afternoon opened with a keynote address by Josep Ll. Sanfeliu, Managing Partner at Asabys Partners and President of Barcelona Global. A longstanding ally of ICFO through his venture capital activities and, more recently, as President of Barcelona Global, Josep shared his perspective on Barcelona’s ambition to become one of the world’s leading cities for impactful talent and economic activity, and how ICFOnians can make valuable contributions.
The keynote was followed by an Alumni Round Table chaired by Vera Ares, head of ICFO’s Knowledge and Technology Transfer team, where five ICFO Alumni shared scenarios for building a science-based career in Barcelona: Teresa Karanikolaou, Senior Scientist at Lace Lithography; Joana Fraxanet, Researcher at IBM Research; Christina Graham, Domain Expert and Project Manager at MeetOptics; Jason Otterstrom, Account Executive at Abbelight; and Ramón Ramos, Head of Quantum Simulation at IDEADED.
The afternoon wrapped up with a special Social Friday in ICFO’s picnic area, where Alumni and current ICFOnians got together to chat about the day’s talks, swap ideas on building a career in the area, catch up with old friends and make new connections.
ICFO Alumni Network
Beyond ICFO is one of several initiatives of the ICFO Alumni Network, an institutionally backed network that provides a platform and formal structure for ICFOnians to maintain common ties, supporting personal and professional relationships as well as shared interests and goals. All Alumni are encouraged to stay connected to the institute and the extended ICFO community as they advance their careers.
The network organizes social and networking events both in Barcelona and around the world, including get-togethers around large academic and industry conferences that attract both current and Alumni ICFOnians.
It also allows Alumni to continue having a positive effect on the institute after they have left. Alongside the annual Beyond ICFO event, Alumni take part in the Career Talks seminar series within the Plus+ program, where they talk about their current work and how they navigated their career changes after ICFO. By staying in touch and engaged, Alumni also help ICFO continuously improve its academic programs and the experience of current ICFOnians.
ICFO Alumni can stay connected through the ICFO Alumni Platform.
We thank Josep Ll. Sanfeliu and all the Alumni panellists for sharing their time and experience with the ICFO community.