ACCIÓ has recognised this year’s 10 most innovative companies with the Catalonia Exponential Leaders’ award. They specialise in artificial intelligence, robotics and blockchain technologies, and are focused on revolutionising the fields of health, mobility, energy and food.

To give visibility to start-ups and companies that challenge established norms and reshape themselves through innovation, the Agency for Business Competitiveness (ACCION) organises the event known as ‘Catalonia Exponential Leaders’ every year.

In this year’s edition, a total of 213 projects were presented, of which 74% are emerging companies or start-ups and the rest are consolidated companies. The 10 chosen companies specialise in sectors and fields such as health and life sciences, mobility, energy, and food.

1. BlindStairs. The platform proposed by BlindStairs works like an ‘anonymous Linkedin’. Its innovation begins with its anonymisation methodology, with a proprietary system of specialised AI models to anonymise professional profiles, to a level that until now has been unfeasible to automate and scale, eliminating any type of bias by gender, age or any other socio-demographic factor.
2. Cuatrecasas. The Cuatrecasas law firm has been working in the field of generative artificial intelligence since 2015. Grouped under the CELIA division (Cuatrecasas Legal Expert – AI), they have enabled the firm to improve the quality, efficiency, and impact of its legal services. For example, the Harvey project, a digital legal assistant capable of answering legal questions and making legal comparisons and strategies, already has more than 1,000 users.
3. Magnetika. This company offers a new wireless charging solution for electric vehicles, such as electric bicycles, urban vehicles, mobile robots or drones. New wireless charging solutions are changing the market, offering a more efficient, convenient and sustainable alternative to conventional wired or contact charging.
4. Navozyme. Leading the transformation of the maritime industry with disruptive solutions that use blockchain technology to introduce pioneering electronic certificates, ensuring data integrity and real-time verification of documentation during port processes. In addition, thanks to the use of artificial intelligence to analyse data in real-time, Navozyme optimises the arrival of ships in port, reducing waiting times and minimising the carbon footprint.
5. Ocean Ecostructures. Ocean Ecostructures has developed a technological solution to offset the impact of port and offshore structures by regenerating marine biodiversity. This solution is based on the installation of biomimetic, multi-technological and digitally monitored micro-shells (LBU) using robotic technology and AI.
6. Oniria Therapeutics. Oniria Therapeutics is focused on the fight against cancer by offering an innovative approach to the oncology market with the oral drug ONR-001 (currently at TRL 4/5). This drug achieves, for the first time, over-activation of TET2, an essential tumour suppressor and dynamic factor that modulates many aspects of the tumour cell related to cancer persistence. It aims to reduce patient relapse or persistence and resistance to current treatments, which are responsible for 90% of cancer deaths.
7. ScentXP. The technologies developed by ScentXp aim to reinvent the olfactory industry, starting with perfumery and cosmetics, transforming the industry’s value chain by orienting it towards digitalisation, sustainability, visualisation and graphic representation of odours, making it more democratic, transparent and accessible.
8. Suara Cooperativa. Suara Cooperativa’s Social Digital Lab is implementing new services to improve people’s mental and physical health and wellbeing, using immersive and virtual reality. These services are materialised thanks to collaboration in three areas and between three actors: the social axis, Social digital Lab, the technological axis, Broomx, and the scientific axis, Consorci Sanitari de Terrassa.
9. Time Is Brain. For every hour it takes to receive treatment for a stroke, the chances of recovery fall by 20%. In this context, Time Is Brain has developed BraiN20, a medical device in the form of an easy-to-install tablet that uses sensors to monitor the brain’s viability in real-time.
10. Uobo. Despite the exponential growth experienced in recent years in terms of alternatives to animal products, there is little in the way of products that can replace chicken eggs. Uobo markets a 100% vegetable liquid egg mixture that offers the same versatility as traditional eggs and makes it possible to prepare all kinds of dishes without having to resort to the exploitation of animals.

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