Ángela Pérez, founder and CEO of IMEGEN, collected the award at a ceremony that also recognised Ignacio Galán, Telefónica, PharmaMar and Global Alumni
The Institute of Genomic Medicine, better known as Imegen, allocates more than one million euros annually to R&D&I in order to increase a wide range of services in the fields of genetics and genomics. However, this year its main objective has been one, to develop molecular diagnostic tests to curb the pandemic.For this reason, "in the month of March, a working group of the 180 people who make up our team, who may seem few, but I assure you that there are many for a biotech company, left their molecular and genetic research to contribute to the fight against COVID19 . And the results have been excellent, as many Spanish hospitals and those in another 15 countries are now using our PCR kits to detect Sars-CoV-2 infection", stressed Ángela Pérez when she received the award for the company that has stood out most in 2020 for its innovative efforts.
For elEconomista, the company located in the University of Valencia Science Park has added "more than enough merit in 2020 to win the award", which was presented by Eva Fernández, Telefónica's Global Director of Communication.
"It was a totally unexpected award. One morning they called us from Madrid to tell us that we had been selected for our work in 2020 as an innovative company. Imegen is a well-known company in the biomedical sector, but it is also a tremendously specialised company. This is why we found it incredible to be selected in such a general award category that covers any sector and not just biotechnology. The second pleasant surprise was to discover that we shared recognition with companies such as Telefónica, Iberdrola and CaixaBank. Of course it was a shot of adrenaline and energy that we are going to take advantage of to continue growing even faster," said Ángela from her office today.
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The event, held at CaixaFórum Madrid, was opened by the Third Vice-President of the Government and Minister of Economic Affairs, Nadia Calviño, who called on the private sector to play a role in multiplying European aid for the economic transformation and recovery plan.
Ángela Pérez (left) poses with the award, the first cover of the newspaper elEconomista. Source: elEconomista.es
Together with IMEGEN, the Night of the Economy also awarded prizes to three other companies and two foundations. Telefónica was awarded Best Business Operation for the merger in the UK of its subsidiary O2 and Virgin Media, the subsidiary of Liberty Global's fixed and television network. The transaction allows Telefónica to cement its industry leadership in a market as developed as the UK, with 46 million customers, and to generate synergies exceeding £6 billion (some ?6.5 billion). Global Alumni won the Best Initiative in Training and Pharma Mar was recognised with the Award for Internalisation. The Fundación Banco de Alimentos de Madrid won the prize for the company that best developed its Corporate Social Responsibility and the Fundación Entreculturas was highlighted for its Contribution to Equality.
In addition, the Alfonso de Salas award for Economic Personality of the Year was presented to the Chairman and CEO of Iberdrola, Ignacio Sánchez Galán, "for his key role in the company's international growth".
IMEGEN
This recognition joins many others that biotechnology already has, as well as its CEO Ángela Pérez. A graduate in Biological Sciences from the University of Valencia in 1996, she founded her first biotechnology company at the age of 23 and is currently involved in eight business initiatives, all related to research, genetics and genomics.
With regard to its offer of diagnostic services for the new coronavirus, the company has been selected by the Framework Agreement of the Ministry of Health to supply hospitals with PCR tests.