CaixaImpulse program names projects it will support

Some 23 biomedical research projects to receive help in transferring to the market

“la Caixa” Banking Foundation and Caixa Capital Risc presented the 23 biomedical research projects that will be part of the third edition of CaixaImpulse. The event took place on 5 July at the Palau Macaya in Barcelona and during the session they announced the expansion of the program to Portugal, as well as, the collaboration of EIT Health.

This initiative is part of the Accelerator pillar of the European consortium, addressed to future entrepreneurs, SMEs, start-ups and spin-offs of the health sector.

The collaboration between EIT Health and “la Caixa” Banking Foundation will benefit all projects contributing to develop new ideas in order to facilitate their transfer to the market and improve the impact of research in society.

Following a list of projects supported by EIT Health:

• ABLE: a bio-robotic exoskeleton designed by Universidad Politécnica de Cataluña (UPC) that allows mobility to people with acquired spinal cord injury
• CORIFY: a device for the diagnosis and follow-up of patients with cardiac arrhythmia due to atrial fibrillation, developed by Fundación para la Investigación Biomédica del Hospital Universitario Gregorio Marañón, and
• Aortyx: a biocompatible graft for the treatment of aortic dissection developed by the Institut Químic de Sarrià (IQS) of Catalonia.

Out of the 80 initiatives proposed in this edition, 73 came from research centers, universities or hospitals in Spain and seven from Portugal. After the Evaluation Committee, 23 projects were selected as finalists, 11 of them are part of the field of drug discovery and 12 belong to medical and diagnostic devices.

During the press conference, held on 5 July at the Palau Macaya in Barcelona, the CEO of the “la Caixa” Banking Foundation, Jaume Giró, and the President of Caixa Capital Risc, Marcelino Armenter, highlighted “the need to equip researchers with the suitable tools to allow that the results of their research reach society.”

For further information on CaixaImpulse click here

For further enquiries contact:

Belén Perat, bperat@fundaciolacaixa.org