One more summer it’s time to celebrate the Evolution Awards, which is as much as saying the Technological Malaga Awards. The awards organized by SUR.es and BBVA reach their eighth edition with an already consolidated prestige and an intact purpose: to bring to the fore the best initiatives of technological Malaga, broadly understood. Because the technological Malaga is not only ‘startups’ -there are companies with decades of experience that are a key part of the ecosystem, as well as institutions and people with a crucial dynamic role-, but it cannot be understood without them either. The Evolution Awards, in this search for a balance between consolidated and emerging initiatives, will go to Airzone, Genengine, Bioherent, Checktobuild and Waisense this year.
Next Tuesday, July 18 at 8:30 p.m., the delivery of these awards will be held at Hacienda Nadales, in a ceremony that will include a presentation by businessman and investor from Malaga Paco Ávila, co-founder of Medac and shareholder of successful startups such as CoverManager. , Genially or Playtomic. An invitation is required to attend the event.
Airzone
Several round figures invite us to pay tribute to Airzone, the Malaga company specializing in air conditioning control systems: it has reached its 25th anniversary with a turnover that is about to reach 100 million euros, after chaining higher growth for several years to 20% boosted by the growing demand for technologies that promote energy saving in homes. Its human team already exceeds 400 people, positioning itself as one of the largest local companies in Malaga TechPark. A new factory is being built on this same premises where it will be able to double its production capacity, since its current headquarters have become too small. There, the company founded and directed by Antonio Mediato is going to invest 8 million euros.
Airzone has been chosen as the winner of the 2023 Evolution Awards in the category “Application of digital innovation in energy efficiency and sustainability”.
Bioherent
Allergies to antibiotics are a major problem in hospitals. When a patient with sepsis or another serious infection cannot be given penicillin or a drug from the same family, doctors lose their main weapon. It is a problem that is also fueled by another: the abundance of false diagnoses. It is estimated that more than half of the patients who are labeled as allergic are not actually so. The solution to this puzzle would be a fast, cheap and reliable diagnostic method for these allergies, which does not exist today. But there is a group of scientists in Malaga that is taking solid steps to make it a reality. By the end of this year, Bioherent, a biomedical technology startup born from the University of Malaga, plans to carry out the proof of concept of its prototype for in vitro diagnosis of allergies to beta-lactam antibiotics, based on a photonic biosensor, which it will work with small peripheral blood samples and will provide results in five minutes.
Bioherent was founded in July 2021 and its promoters are Iñigo Molina, professor of Communications Engineering; Ezequiel Pérez-Inestrosa, Professor of Organic Chemistry; and María José Torres, head of the Allergology Service of the Regional Hospital of Málaga and tenured professor of Medicine. The conjunction of these three branches of knowledge –engineering, chemistry and medicine– in the same team is the key to the solid progress that Bioherent is showing in the international race to achieve an ‘in vitro’ diagnostic method for allergy to antibiotics.
Bioherent has been chosen as the winner of the 2023 Evolution Awards in the category “Use of new technologies in the field of healthcare”.
Genengine
Genengine was born in 2018 as a ‘spin-off’ project of the University of Malaga. Its CEO, Ana Medina, had the objective of developing software to optimize health care processes in the genetic-clinical field and facilitate personalized precision medicine. Her solution RDengine, which is close to its commercial launch, has managed to digitize and speed up the diagnosis of patients with rare diseases.
A few months ago, Genengine won one of the prizes awarded at the grand final of the Entrepreneurship World Cup, considered the largest startup competition in the world. As a result of this award and the visibility it gave it, the company has opened up new business and financing possibilities. In fact, the round of 500,000 euros that it has open may end up being expanded to one million euros.
Genengine has been chosen as the winner of the 2023 Evolution Awards in the category “Application of technology in biomedical research”.
Chektobuild
Chektobuild is a company founded in Marbella in 2020 that offers an autonomous control and inspection service for construction and industrial projects thanks to the incorporation of ‘machine learning’. Its goal is to avoid budget overruns and delays in construction, industry, and infrastructure by providing precision and intelligence. The company is inoculating innovation in a sector (brick) that had not only stagnated in digital transformation, but is also one of the most polluting in the world. In addition to Spain, it is in full expansion in the US market and is preparing its jump to other international markets.
Checktobuild is founded and directed by Alejandro Ruiz, the son and brother of masons from Marbella who, after studying engineering and taking a master’s degree with a scholarship in the US, had the idea and the determination to create a startup that would help take the industry a step forward. industry he knew so well.
Chektobuild has been chosen as the winner of the 2023 Evolution Awards in the category “Application of technology to improve efficiency in the construction sector”.
Waisense
At the end of 2013, a group of entrepreneurs from Malaga led by Eduardo Dueñas founded the company Métrica6 with one objective: “Create a product with an environmental impact to benefit the whole world”. Ten years later, this technology is a reality with its own name, it is called Waisense and it works in two aspects: helping to save water and promoting sustainability. Everything as a switch through home automation with an activator that you pass your hand over and it acts as a button to start activating the hot water but without opening the tap until a red light indicates that it is already possible to do so.
Waisense has recently closed an investment round for one million euros that may be expanded. The firm has a team of about 20 people who, with the product already growing in the market, work to make it an adaptable solution for both homes and businesses, as well as new developments and constructions that want to incorporate a differentiation into their projects. .
