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Two biotech companies and the PCB, among the six winners of the 9th Barcelona Entrepreneur Award

By 16 de March de 2007November 18th, 2020No Comments
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 16.03.2007

Two biotech companies and the PCB, among the six winners of the 9th Barcelona Entrepreneur Award

The biotech enterprises and , located at the Parc Científic de Barcelona and counselled by the (run by the UB), together with the PCB's Combinatorial Chemistry Group, are among the six winners of the 9th Barcelona Entrepreneur Award. This prize is given by the Barcelona City Council and in recognition of entrepreneurial initiative and contribution to innovation, employment and economic growth of the city.

Located at the PCB, CrystaX has won the “XXI Entrepreneur Award”. CrystaX is a pioneering biotech company in Spain in the development of a drug development technique based on the 3D structure of biological targets, which, by applying cutting-edge technology, such as synchrotron radiation and nuclear magnetic resonance, speeds up the research process. Headed by the researcher Joan Aymami, CrystaX was set up in 2002 and has a portfolio of international customers. Last year this company registered a turnover of more than one million euros.

The “XXI Entrepreneur Award”, promoted by La Caixa and by the Ministry of Industry, Tourism and Commerce, is a new prize this year, awarded to recently established innovative companies with strong potential for growth. The winning company of this award in Catalonia, CrystaX, will participate in a national final, in which it will compete against the winners from other regions of Spain. The national winner will be awarded 35,000€ in the form of assessment by an international mentor.

In addition, the biotech company Infinitec Activos, together with the PCB’s Combinatorial Chemistry Group, whose principal investigator is Fernando Albericio, also director of the PCB, have won the “University-Business Cooperation Award”, sponsored by the Knowledge Transfer Consortium. Infinitec Activos is a recently established company that designs and produces new molecules for the cosmetic industry, and maintains close cooperation with the Universitat de Barcelona (UB, University of Barcelona) and particularly with the PCB and the UB’s Dept. of Biochemistry for the development of new technologies that lead to product improvements. The company was set up in 2004 and has international clients such as Estée Lauder and l’Oreal.

The UB’s Centre de Projecció Tèrmica, together with the company Tallers Mecànics Comas, have been runners up in the University-Business Cooperation Award. This centre is formed by a group devoted to research in surface engineering and the application of coatings in order to modify surface properties. It is a member of CIDEM’s Technological Innovation Network, through which the Fundació Bosch i Gimpera coordinate UB research groups.

This year’s “Barcelona Entrepreneur Award” ceremony was held in the Palau de Congressos de Catalunya during “Entrepreneur Night”, an event held to mark the end of the conferences given for “Entrepreneur Day”, an initiative to promote business development. This initiative is run by the Barcelona City Council together with 20 other organizations, among which figure the Fundació Bosch i Gimpera. In its 9th year, this award has been organised into 6 categories, for which 206 candidatures were proposed.