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Dr. Ignasi Belda, founder and CEO of Intelligent Pharma (Photo: Daniel Portales, Parc Científic de Barcelona).
 08.04.2016

Intelligent Pharma receives the TECNIO accreditation

Yesterday, 7 April, the Government of Catalonia presented the new TECNIO accreditation in an event led by the Minister of Business and Knowledge, Jordi Baiget, that brought together nearly 300 people from the Catalan scientific and technological community at the Mediapro building. The seal identifies in a first phase 54 entities that offer the most innovative technologies to help business create products, processes or services. Intelligent Pharma, specialized in computational chemistry services for the pharmaceutical and biotechnological industry, based at the Parc Científic de Barcelona, was one of the companies honored to have received this accreditation. 

 

As a new agent TECNIO, Intelligent Pharma will be use to use the accreditation seal ç, obtain visibility and recognition from  ACCIÓ, outreach services and commercialization of technology, counselling on international cooperation, first-hand information on activities organized by ACCIÓ, prioritizing help lines and specific programs, networking activities and training, and capacity building in knowledge transfer.

“This seal is a recognition of our commitment and continuous efforts in R & D & i. Our achievements in the field of technology in computational chemistry are helping to optimize processes and accelerate research into new medicines. Obtaining this certification reaffirms our strategic commitment to boost competitiveness and productive model in the pharmaceutical and biotech Catalan sector”, said Dr. Ignasi Belda, founder and CEO of Intelligent Pharma.

Intelligent Pharma was created in 2007 as a spin-off of the University of Barcelona by a young entrepreneur, engineer Ignasi Belda, as part of the Bioincubator at Parc Científic de Barcelona. Focuses on the development, commercialization and use of new technologies in  computational chemistry and artificial intelligence for drug discovery.

The company is now present in five countries around the world. It has offices in Munich and Heidelberg (Germany), London (UK), Massachusetts (USA) and an affiliate office focused on the petrochemical research field in Alberta (Canada).

In its eighty-year business history, Intelligent Pharma has received 15 awards for its innovation capacity and growth potential, and has developed more than 200 projects in 20 countries for large multinational pharmaceutical companies, SMEs biotech, and academic research groups in the pharmaceutical, cosmetic, agrofood industry and petrochemical fields. 

 

Increasing the number of innovation companies in Catalonia and making them more competitive

The goal of the new TECNIO accreditation is to empower Catalan companies to find new technologies for their technology needs for the development of new products and processes, be it through the procurement or acquisition of patents, contracting of R+D+I projects or contact with spin-offsT

The seal presented yesterday is an extension of the old TECNIO network, created in 2009 and which to date includes Catalan technology centers and university groups. During the event, stressed that “seal represents a leap and a differentiating factor for TECNIO agents for companies to find quality, specialization and innovation capacity,” and further stated “companies must have internalized innovation in their production processes.” According to the Business and Enterprises Minister, “we need a productive economy that generates more added value: This is one of the challenges of our country.”

The seal TECNIO seal confers accreditation to four types of agents: public technology developers (such as universities and research centers); private technology developers (such as engineering or technology-based companies); and non-profit technology developers. This seal is valid until 2019 and will be open to new entities in subsequent phases.

Aligned with the Research and Innovation Strategy for the Smart Specialisation of Catalonia (RIS3CAT) and the Industrial strategy of Catalonia, the new TECNIO accreditation is a new initiative that puts technology transfer as one of the key mechanisms to increase the number of innovation companies in Catalonia and to make them more competitive. In this sense, the director general of Industry, Núria Betriu, pointed out that “56.8% of Catalan companies employing more than 9 workers are considered innovative; and, from these, 84.6% plans to increase billing”. According to Betriu, it is necessary for Catalonia to positions itself as a reference region in Europe in terms of innovation.”