Universitat de València (Spain) 30th anniversary IDEAS
Turning 30 is always a great event that should be celebrated in style. This was done this Wednesday from IDEAS UPV, the driving and managing body of all business initiatives born at the Universitat Politècnica de València (UPV), which this 2022 celebrates its first 30 years of history.
Hundreds of people gathered to commemorate this party at a gala that celebrated the origin of UPV entrepreneurship and in which the 2022 Honorary Awards, the XVI IDEAS UPV Awards and the honorary recognitions of the 30th anniversary gala were delivered. Presented by Professor Jaime Gómez Hernández, the 30th anniversary Gala of IDEAS UPV became a great recognition to those who bet on entrepreneurship.
Honorary Awards 2022
The event began with the delivery of the2022 Honorary Awardsto people who, over the years, have achieved an impact on society. The recognition of the Business Trajectory was for the Valencian startup Zeleros, which is committed to the train of the future and which had the initial impulse of IDEAS UPV. Also the one who was rector of the UPV between 2013 and 2021, Francisco José Mora Mas, received honorary recognition for his contribution to the IDEAS program, for having managed to position the UPV as a benchmark in entrepreneurship. Finally, the Minister of Science and Innovation Diana Morant received the honorary recognition Ambassador IDEAS UPV, “for her brilliant career improving people’s lives and for always being a banner of the UPV”.
The gala continued with a round table formed by Iker Marcaide, Margarita Albors and José Capmany, all of them entrepreneurs trained at the UPV who presented their life and professional experiences in the world of entrepreneurship.
XVI IDEAS UPV Awards
In addition to the celebration of the 30th anniversary, IDEAS also presented its XVI Awards, whose objective is to recognize the best entrepreneurial initiatives and business trajectories according to their growth, innovative character, business strategy and contribution to the environment.
In theLean category, for companies affiliated to IDEAS UPV, with economic activity, and constituted as of January 1, 2019, the first prize, endowed with 3500 euros, went to the company Arkadia Aerospace Propulsion & Transportation Systems, a technology-based startup dedicated to the development of engines and high-performance propulsive systems for satellites and space platforms. The second prize went to the company Cosmos Engineering, a Spanish startup that comes to digitize the construction sector by introducing disruptive technology in its processes, which took 2500 euros; while the third prize in the category went to the company Verazial, dedicated to improving the secure identification of people, through the use of fingerprint, iris and facial biometric technologies.
In theAvanza category, for companies affiliated to IDEAS UPV, with economic activity, and constituted prior to December 31, 2018, the first prize (6000 euros) went to Solatom CSP, dedicated to the design and assembly of solar concentration projects for steam generation in industrial processes. The second prize, endowed with 5000 euros, went to Flit2go (Smart Mobility Services Spain), born to digitize the processes of companies in the mobility sector, enhancing their scalability and profitability. The third prize in the category went to Exponentia Team, a startup dedicated to adding value to society through new technologies, such as Artificial Intelligence and Blockchain, which won 4000 euros.
In thecategory Enterprising Woman, which recognizes companies affiliated to IDEAS UPV that have been founded or co-founded by women, where the participation in the social capital of women of the UPV is greater than or equal to 50%, the prize, endowed with 3000 euros, went to Utopic Cosmetics, a company of high natural cosmetics, which uses biotechnology to create 100% healthy formulas, vegan and truly committed to people and the environment.
Finally, the Spin-off award, for companies affiliated to IDEAS UPV, promoted by UPV staff based on the UPV’s university research activity, went to aspin-off founded with the aim of designing and developing a web platform that allows the automatic analysis of medical images and in order to detect types of cancer in early stages: Kenko Imalytics.
Honorary recognitions Gala 30th anniversary
In this celebration we wanted to pay tribute to all those people and entities that in one way or another have collaborated in the day to day of IDEAS UPV with the delivery of a series of honorary recognitions on the occasion of the 30th anniversary.
The winners were José Millet, Margarita Albors, Iker Marcaide, José Capmany, Montse Robles, Ignacio Fernández de Lucio and, posthumously, José Luis Alonso.
Finalmente, se entregó el galardón especial de reconocimiento honorífico 30 aniversario al que fuera rector de la UPV, Justo Nieto, “quien fue el artífice definitivo del nacimiento del programa IDEAS UPV, reconociendo además su espíritu visionario e innovador que siempre le ha acompañado allí donde ha liderado equipos y ejercido altas responsabilidades”.
La clausura del acto corrió a cargo del rector de la UPV, Pepe Capilla, que destacó la importante labor de IDEAS y los magníficos resultados empresariales que se han cosechado en estos 30 años de historia, recordando que “somos una universidad innovadora y emprendedora, lo llevamos en el ADN. Estamos comprometidos con el retorno multiplicado a la sociedad”.