The celebration of the 10th edition of the Paterna, City of Enterprises Awards highlights the pride of the city for its economic leadership position and its powerful strategic business and industrial enclave thanks to the constant dynamism of public-private, which includes the more than 90 companies of the University of Valencia Science Park (PCUV).
In the framework of the tenth anniversary of these Awards, the gala has brought together more than 200 entrepreneurs/as and freelancers/as, workers/as and authorities as well as representatives of local entities.
Regarding the companies awarded in this X edition in each of the categories invited, the award for the Best Start Up has fallen to Ajax Bioscience which has been presented by Diana Aparicio, President of the EGM Táctica Business Parc and which has received the CEO Alejandro Atienza. On the other hand, the prize for the Best Company in Research and Business Innovation has been awarded to Matteco. Antonio Alagarda, president of EGM Paterna Technological Park, presented the award to the company’s CEO Iker Marcaide.
The Mayor of Paterna and president of the association Paterna, City of Enterprises, Juan Antonio Sagredo has appealed to the importance of public-private collaboration as "a working model that we have been creating for years and now other cities also try to imitate" with the aim of understanding the public and private "as engines that add up and cooperate above all at business level and which is demonstrated every day by the relationship we maintain from this City Council and the six business parks with their different Management and Modernization Entities (EGM)".
Located in the University of Valencia Science Park and incubated by AgrotecUV, the startup Ajax Biosciences was born with the aim of leading a new era of biological engineering through the development of a miniature laboratory that using nanotechnology allows it to create DNA directly within cells.
Thanks to their system that performs millions of experiments in parallel, they reduce development times from decades to hours and costs from millions to thousands of euros. Its miniaturized, modular and scalable platform accelerates drug discovery times. Benefits to the pharmaceutical sector that are likely to be extended in the future to other industries using biotechnology. Recently, the startup participated as an exhibitor at VDS 2025.
Matteco Team, located in the University of Valencia Science Park and in the Industrial Complex l'Andana, develops energy catalysts and high-performance electrodes, key components in the process of generating renewable hydrogen through water electrolysis; a patented technology resulting from more than 10 years of R & D. Its new generation materials are designed to significantly reduce energy consumption by up to 30%.
The company is focused on advanced materials technology to decarbonize the economy and accelerate the energy transition through solutions for green hydrogen production. The result of more than a decade of R & D, is led by Gonzalo Abellán, head of the 2D-Chem research group at the Institute of Molecular Science (ICMol), and by Iker Marcaide through Zubi, a group of impact companies with the aim of solving social and environmental challenges.
The company develops patented catalysts and electrodes that significantly reduce the costs of the electrolysis process. In addition to its headquarters at the Science Park, Matteco has a 10,000 m2 manufacturing plant capable of producing the equivalent of 1 GW of electrodes per year. Their team, mostly Valencian, already exceeds 40 professionals.
In October 2024, Matteco closed a €15 million Series A financing round with the participation of family offices such as Grupo ASV, Napali and Zubi. These funds have been used for the start-up of the factory and to strengthen its integration with the main manufacturers of electrolysers worldwide. It has also been recognized as one of the 100 most innovative startups in Spain in the APTE 2024 ranking.
Source: Paterna's Council
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