29 projects receive support from the "la Caixa" Foundation to transfer their cutting-edge research from the laboratory to patients
The "la Caixa" Foundation will allocate 3.3 million euros to promote 29 innovative biomedical projects with the capacity to reach the market and society. These are projects developed in 20 research centres, hospitals and universities in Spain and Portugal, and selected within the framework of the 2023 call of the new CaixaImpulse Innovation in Health programme. The aim of the initiative is to encourage research to leave the laboratory and reach patients in the form of solutions capable of contributing to improving their health.
The award winners - out of more than 300 applications received - were evaluated by a panel of international experts and professionals in the field of life sciences and health.
By business area, 13 of the projects belong to the field of therapies, 9 to diagnostics, 5 to medical devices and 2 to digital health. In terms of funding, depending on the degree of maturity of the project, the winners receive between 50,000 and 500,000 euros to develop it over the following two years. In this call, 15 projects have accessed phase 1 (up to 50,000 euros); 12, phase 2 (up to 150,000 euros), and 2, phase 3 (up to 500,000 euros). The programme allows projects that reach specific development milestones, after assessment by the evaluation committee, to move on to subsequent phases with greater funding.
CaixaImpulse Innovation supports biomedical projects in the field of innovation and transfer by helping researchers to validate their assets and define their exploitation and valorisation strategy to bring the projects closer to the market, so that in addition to financial support they will also have access to mentoring, consultancy and accompaniment by international experts in different areas of the innovation ecosystem. In addition, researchers leading projects in phase 2 will receive specialised training for 4 weeks, divided between Barcelona and Madrid, on technology transfer, intellectual property legislation, presentation to investors and closing commercial agreements.
The call is carried out in collaboration with Caixa Capital Risc, one of the leading venture capital investors in Spain, with more than twenty years of experience. Furthermore, in Portugal, the call is carried out in partnership with the Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT), of the Portuguese Ministry of Science, Technology and Higher Education, which subsidises two of the selected Portuguese projects.
The "la Caixa" Foundation has maintained its commitment to innovation and transfer in biomedicine and health since 2015, when the entity created the first support programme. So far, the "la Caixa" Foundation has allocated 21.3 million euros to support 202 projects, which have led to the creation of 42 spin-offs (spin-off companies), which in turn have obtained additional co-funding, through other competitive calls or private investors, worth more than 100 million euros.