The Association of Companies and Entities of the BIO sector, which includes biotechnology, biomedicine and bioeconomy, and which constitute the cluster of the Valencian Community, Bioval, recognized during the seventh edition of the Biotec Night, through the Bioval 2024 awards, the work of Cristina Vilanova, Alejandro Atienza and Beatriz Llamusí
On October 16, the Valencian biotechnology night recognized research and entrepreneurial personnel from the University of Valencia Science Park (PCUV). The seventh edition of Nit Biotec, a meeting promoted by the Association of Companies and Entities of the BIO sector (Bioval), awarded three prizes to people and entities linked to the Science Park in the categories of 'Value proposition', 'Female leadership' and 'Young talent'. The jury, composed of twelve professionals from different fields related to biotechnology and chaired by the president of Bioval, Ángela Pérez, awarded the prizes to Cristina Vilanova, co-founder of DARWIN Bioprospecting Excellence, Alejandro Atienza, creator of AJAX DNA and researcher at the Institute for Integrative Systems Biology (I2SysBio), and the biotech company ARTHEx Biotech.
The awards ceremony took place at the Biohub VLC (La Marina) with the aim of strengthening the consolidation of the Bioval cluster, which aspires to become the benchmark for all biotech companies in the Valencian Community. Before the half thousand attendees, the president of the Valencian biotech cluster, Ángela Pérez, acknowledged “the importance that these awards have acquired in recent years, in the heat of a key event for the sector. Valencian biotechnology has been on the roadmap of the Valencian government's General Directorate of Industry for a few weeks now. Our territory is a strategic point in the field of biotech and proof of this is the excellence of all the award winners, as well as the interest of our government in promoting everything we do”.
Arthex Biotech, Value proposition award
Arhtex Biotech's pharmaceutical development seeks to slow down degeneration in patients suffering from Myotonic Dystrophy or even recover or improve motor function.
Beatriz Llamusí, co-founder of the company, recognized the importance of this award “which comes at a key moment for Arthex, when it is testing the drug in humans for the first time”.
Cristina Vilanova, Women's Leadership Award
The winner of the Women's Leadership Award is co-founder and CSO of Darwin Bioprospecting, the first Spanish company dedicated to the bioprospecting of microorganisms in any type of environmental sample.
Cristina Vilanova took the step of leaving university to go into business, “motivated by the desire to turn projects into products and services needed for today's industry. This award is a recognition of positive leadership. Women have very good management skills and I am proud to be chosen by my colleagues at Bioval as a model or inspiration for management and leadership,” she said.
Alejandro Atienza, Young Talent Award
The Young Talent Award winner has created AJAX DNA, a real-time genetic and metabolic engineering project that provides a miniaturized drug production platform for the treatment of rare diseases.
Alejandro Atienza became interested in proteins after studying biotechnology and after completing his master's degree in synthetic biology, he founded his own startup with which he created “a novel 3D printer of molecules”. In the words of the award winner “receiving this award at such an incipient moment is exciting because it is the confirmation that the path we have started has a way to go”. “For me it is a commitment to the profession, a motivation to use my talent to make the world a better place,” concluded Atienza on stage.
A jury committed to the biotechnology sector
The jury was formed by an outstanding group of experts in biotechnology, innovation and entrepreneurship. Among its members are Ángela Pérez (President of Bioval), Carlos Lledó (founder and CEO of Veganic Nature and former president of Bioval), Lucía Almagro (CEO of Episteme and winner of the Bioval 2023 award for Scientific Dissemination), Karina Virrueta (head of the innovation ecosystem at Startup Valencia), J. Francisco Machado (Director of Business Development at Caixa Popular), Carlos Ruiz (Director of Research and Development at Health in Code), Víctor Rodríguez (Regional Key Account Manager at Promega), Marta Iranzo (CEO of Necia Marketing and President of EVAP), and Quique Calabuig (President of Kaiho Capital, CEO and investor in The Therminal Hub).
About BIOVAL
Bioval is the association of companies and organizations in the BIO sector that encompasses the bioeconomy, biotechnology and biomedicine, and which constitute the BIO cluster of the Valencian Community. This initiative was created in 2006 and, since then, has energized the biotech sector and promoted the development and competitiveness of the business network to position its members on the international scene. Bioval currently has more than 100 members of very different types: companies, technology centers, research centers, universities and others.
Source of information: Bioval