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The founders of all companies received their award on Friday at CaixaForum Barcelona. Photo: "la Caixa".
 05.12.2014

Devicare wins the 8th EntrepreneurXXI Award in the ‘entrepreneur’ category

Devicare a company associated at the Parc Cientific de Barcelona, has been awarded one of the EntrepreneurXXI Award, the initiative for innovation projects organized by "la Caixa", through Caixa Capital Risc, together with the Ministry of Industry, Energy and Tourism, through Eninsa (National Innovation Company), and the City Council of Barcelona, through Barcelona Activa, as organizer in Catalonia. Devicare has been co-winner of the ‘entrepreneur' category which recognizes the best startups, with less than two years on the market. The founders of all companies received their award on Friday at CaixaForum Barcelona from the Minister of Industry, Energy and Tourism, José Manuel Soria, and the Director General of the Fundaciò Bancària "la Caixa", Jaume Giró, who chaired the event together with with Marcelino Armenter, Director General of Criteria; Alón Bar, Israeli Ambassador to Spain, and Sonia Recasens, Second Deputy Mayor of the City Council of Barcelona.

Devicare, which was supported by Barcelona Activa during its set-up process, develops innovative products for the diagnosis, monitoring, follow-up and home treatment of renal lithiasis (kidney stones). This disease, also called nephrolithiasis or urolithiasis, is caused by the presence of calculi or stones inside the kidneys or urinary tract. 

This project had already won the Entrepreneur XXI Catalonia Award, and also in the latest edition of the BioEmprenedorXXI award, a joint initiative of Barcelona Activa, “la Caixa” and Biocat. This is a program for creating innovative companies with high growth potential in the field of life sciences.

Devicare shared the distinction with Torus, a Galician company operating in the field of communications and new technologies. As national winners of the ‘entrepreneur’ category, along with their autonomic prize (an endowment of 5,000 euros and a scholarship for the acceleration course for entrepreneurs Ignite Fast Track, offered by the University of Cambridge),  both companies have received a further sum in the amount of 20,000 euros. Moreover, Torus also got the second prize for innovation awarded by the Embassy of Israel in Spain, as the jury regarded their project innovative and with a larger disruptive capacity. In this case, the prize is a 1-week long training program in Israel organized by the Tel Aviv-Yafo Academic Center. In addition, Voptica, from the Region of Murcia (life sciences); Orache, from Aragon (industrial technology); and Smartick, based in Andalucía (digital technologies), have all been awarded in the ‘growing business‘ category aimed at business projects in the growing phase.

EntrepreneurXXI Awards

The EntrepreneurXXI Awards, considered as one of the reference calls for innovation projects in Spain, are aimed at entrepreneurs who stand out in the implementation of innovation into fundamental aspects of their business because of their growth potential and global vision. 584 applications were submitted to this 8th edition of the call ‘entrepreneur’, which represents an increase of 29.5% over the previous edition. With regard to the  ‘growing business’ category 154 companies registered for participation.

In total, 27 business projects became finalists, 19 from the the ‘growing business’ category (companies from 2-7 years) in the areas of life sciences, digital technologies and industrial technologies; and 8 projects from the ‘entrepreneur’ category (companies with less than two years), chosen from among the 584 candidates who participated in this year´s edition, which means an increase of 29% over last year.

Since its creation in 2007, a total of 3,928 new companies have participated in the initiative and 182 have been awarded in some of the categories or different existing prizes. Of the total, 19% of participating companies were founded by women, and a third is already selling their product worldwide. The total endowment in cash prizes for the winners during the editions of the EntrepreneurXXI Awards amounts to 1,600,000 euros, in addition to over a million euros for training and international networking that winning companies have done over these years.