The "Escuela de Ingenieros Industriales de Barcelona (School of Industrial Engineers of Barcelona)" (EIIB) was founded in 1851 within the context of a reorganisation of technical education in Spain. From 1867 to 1899 it was the only Industrial Engineering school in the country, which emphasises its relevance in the development and training of human capital for industry in this period. This article analyses the development of higher education in Industrial Engineering in Europe and Spain with a special focus on the EIIB. Furthermore, it analyses those teachers and students of the EIIB who played a relevant role in the gas industry in Spain in the second half of the nineteenth century. In order to conduct this research, we have consulted the bibliography on them and also their records in this institution's archive.