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The closing ceremony of the AIQS Alumni Centenary brings together more than 800 people at the Palau de la Música Catalana
The new leitmotiv was presented in society with an event at the Palau de la Música Catalana that brought together almost a thousand guests and in which the president of AIQS Alumni, Jordi Martí Gascón, stressed that a new stage of transformation is opening that “revolves around three important pillars: connect, accompany and inspire. Connecting between friends and students from the different IQS degree programmes, accompanying IQS students throughout their careers and inspiring them to seek references that help them to be better people and professionals every day. Martí also pointed out that any project that starts from now on will have to respond to these three verbs and, “if the answer is yes, yes, yes, then it is 100% AIQS Alumni DNA”.
The general director of IQS, Dr Salvador Borrós, pointed out the importance of the IQS association during the difficult times of the second republic and the civil war when the Alumni led the resumption of the Institute and were paramount in the development of the country’s chemical industry. He added that “we have to be extremely proud of our past, but we must know how to prepare our stimulating future, full of new opportunities and at the same time with totally new rules of the game. We have gone from a chemistry-focused institution to a multi-degree IQS”.
The president of the IQS Board of Trustees, Fr Enric Puig SJ, recalled the past of AIQS Alumni, known as the Association of Chemists and Engineers of the Chemical Institute of Sarrià, and had a “fond memory for those first alumni who built the foundations of this association that has been consolidated over time and which now fully embraces the graduates of the various degrees taught at IQS”.
The growth and diversification of IQS were one of the points also highlighted by Dr Miquel Gassiot Matas, president of the AIQS Alumni Centenary Committee. For Gassiot, the IQS of today, thanks to the creation of the Ramon Llull University, of which IQS is one of the founding centres, is a multidisciplinary centre that is responsible for teaching and research in Chemistry, Chemical Engineering, Industrial Engineering, Biotechnology, Pharmacy, Business Administration and Management, Marketing, Business Administration, International Business and Tourism. This plurality and diversity have been enthusiastically incorporated by AIQS Alumni and give rise to a new character and many possibilities.
The rector of the URL, Josep Maria Garrell, closed the speeches by extending his congratulations to all the people who have made possible the hundred years of AIQS and remarked that this is an intergenerational celebration in which the pride of belonging is appreciated. Another value that for Garrell complements AIQS Alumni’s words of connecting, accompanying and inspiring.
Among the more than 800 guests attending the AIQS Alumni transformation event were IQS students and alumni, representatives of the URL, ESADE, Loyola University, University of Deusto and Deusto Business School, as well as members of the associations UNIJES and Jesuit Alumni Sarrià – San Ignacio.
Closing Gala
The closing gala of the centenary, which was sponsored by BASF and Catalana Occidente, closed with the musical show, Transforma’t, starring the pianist Cristina Casale, considered one of the most international pianists in our country. Casale was accompanied by Patricia de No, flute, Oriol Saña, jazz violin, David Mengual, double bass, and Oriol Roca, drums. A versatile show where music was combined with words to represent the passage of time and the transformation of the IQS Alumni Association into the AIQS Alumni of today.
The two-part performance consisted of 14 pieces of classical and jazz music, representing 14 keywords for AIQS Alumni: responsibility, achievement, passion, transcendence, perspective, breakthrough, character, tenacity, versatility, outreach, innovation, inspiration, reinvention and transformation.
Each word reflected the character and the values of AIQS Alumni and was associated with the name of a representative personality from the world of science, culture or society. Such as Alan Turing, the mathematician who deciphered the Enigma Code, Rosa Parks, an activist for the defence of civil rights in the USA and Fr. Salvador Gil, who rebuilt IQS after the civil war, with the support of Dr Pedro Ribosa.
With this closing gala, AIQS Alumni brings to an end the events organised to celebrate its creation on 23 January 1921. During that year, the entity organised numerous conferences, presented the new AIQS Alumni Life platform, held a tribute to the 1955 companies and organised several alumni meetings such as the visit to the Cueva of San Ignacio in Manresa or the Young Hub party at the DAMM factory.
