The seventh edition of EMPENTA – an acceleration and support programme for high-tech and/or innovative companies, promoted by ACCIÓ and led by ESADE and ESADECREAPOLIS – is now underway. For this edition of the programme, more than 130 projects submitted applications, doubling last year’s total and setting a new participation record.

The 10 projects with the highest potential have been those selected to participate in the acceleration programme. Over the next six months, more than 30 mentors and 10 speakers will collaborate with the participating entrepreneurs, helping them unite their teams, secure financing and reach the market. Thanks to ACCIÓ’s sponsorship, this successful ESADECREAPOLIS programme is now in its seventh edition and was chosen as a runner-up for the APTE Award for Best Innovative Practice in Science and Technology Parks.

“This year, we are focused on bringing cutting-edge technology to the market,” commented EMPENTA Director Víctor Solanas. “It’s been a wave of new technologies like we’ve never seen before.”

Focused on R&D&I projects

The projects submitted in this year’s edition of EMPENTA stood out for their quality, technological complexity and business potential. The vast majority are projects that have developed or are applying for patents as a result of work carried out at research centres such as the Artificial Intelligence Research Institute (UAB), Pompeu Fabra University, the Catalan Institute of Nanoscience and Nanotechnology, the Catalan Institute for Research and Advanced Studies, the Barcelona Supercomputing Centre and the Institute of Chemical Research of Catalonia.

With an average age of around 33 years, the selected entrepreneurs have an extensive technical background, a keen business vision and experience in their chosen field.

This edition of EMPENTA features heavily tech-oriented projects that address a wide range of problems: products for detecting viral indicators in water and food, systems for transmitting sensorial content via vibrations, membranes that separate gases and allow them to be reused, and more.

Promoted by the ESADECREAPOLIS innovation centre and ACCIÓ, this year’s EMPENTA programme kicked off on 6th March with an initial session on the management of entrepreneurial teams. Over a six-month period, the facilities and resources of ESADECREAPOLIS, ACCIÓ and the ESADE Entrepreneurship Institute will help the 10 selected projects to overcome the critical stages of business creation, such as building their teams, defining a business model and obtaining financing. Thanks to the participation of the City of Sant Cugat, this year’s startups will also have the opportunity to use an incubation space on ESADE’s Rambla of Innovation.

The following are the 10 selected startups:

• Colorsensing has developed a technology that lets you use a smartphone to quickly and easily measure the temperature, humidity and other parameters inside the packaging of food products. These data make it possible to monitor and optimise the traceability of the food supply chain.
• Paperdrop uses a single drop of blood to carry out a non-invasive multiplexed analysis of various molecular biomarkers, making it possible to detect diseases in a matter of seconds.
• Bluephage offers kits for quickly, cheaply and safely analysing viral indicators in water, food and biosolids, helping to save lives by guaranteeing higher product quality.
• Mitiga provides business solutions capable of evaluating and managing natural risks and improving risk management for clients in multiple industries. Mitiga’s core technology, known as SORT-ATM, offers real-time solutions for air traffic management to minimise the impact of volcanic hazards in the aviation industry.
• Orchestra Scientific has developed an inexpensive and environmentally friendly membrane that separates carbon dioxide from polluting emissions for subsequent injection into gas networks.
• Paquer Innovations has developed a robotic base that can rotate any smartphone 360º on its vertical axis and tilt the phone on its horizontal axis to record and follow the movement of an object or person.
• Pista Negra has used a patented technology to develop disruptive ski boots with an integrated exostructure. In ski mode, the boots are stiff enough to transmit orders and control the skis, but in non-ski mode they behave like street shoes (the shaft and sole become flexible, giving the boot great versatility).
• Sensorial Processing Technologies Barcelona has developed a hardware system that controls electronic components such as body vibrators and tactile transducers that translate audiovisual content into sensory content.
• Voice Magix offers personalised solutions for automatically annotating singing voices on audio files though the automation of lyric synchronisation.
• WeAR Technologies has created a monitoring system consisting of wearable sensors and proprietary artificial intelligence technology to detect when and how users perform rehabilitation exercises.