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uWhisp, a company created by former students of the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya • BarcelonaTech (UPC), won the Marketing Communications Prize in the 2012 World Technology Awards. The prize was collected by Joan Casas, CEO of the company, at the award-winning ceremony held in New York. Casas founded the company with his fellow students of the Barcelona School of Informatics (FIB) Iuri Aranda, Miquel Las Heras and Miquel Puig.

This company has created a tool for sending voice messages easily through the social networks. When the uWhisp is connected, the tool is displayed directly in the message box of Facebook and Twitter, from where the messages can be recorded, sent and played without needing to use any other program.

The idea for this tool arose when the founders were studying Informatics at the FIB. In the initial stage, the initiative received support from the UPC’s Innova Programme, which promotes the setting up of innovative projects and companies by the university community. uWhisp was a finalist in the first Emprèn UPC competition in 2011, and received advice on drawing up its business plan.

Nomination for the prize has converted Joan Casas into a member of the World Technology Network composed of over 1000 scientists, entrepreneurs, financiers, journalists, academics and politicians of over 200 organisations and companies worldwide. These persons are those who choose the winners of these prizes, which have 20 individual categories and 10 categories for companies and organisations. The prizes are awarded to the persons and organisations doing the innovative work of “the greatest likely long-term significance” in their fields.