Award ceremony of the Prizes conferred by the Board of Trustees and the Bosch i Gimpera Foundation

This year, the José Manuel Blecua Prize for the best article published in a prestigious journal in the field of humanities and social sciences was conferred on Toni Cunillera for a study focused on linguistics and neuroscience. The study, described in the article “Time course and functional neuroanatomy of speech segmentations in adults”, published in NeuroImage, concludes that when we are learning a language, it is important to listen to people talking in this language, even if we do not understand the meaning of sentences. We are not aware, but our brain begins to recognise structures and distinguish some words. The research also proves that when listening to a new language, our brain activates mechanisms to reproduce what we listen, “but we do not notice it”, points out Cunillera.

The Ramon Margalef Prize for the best article published in a prestigious journal in the field of experimental and health sciences was given to a research on nanotechnology applied to the fight against cancer. To be exact, it is a research on magnetic nanoparticles which are placed into cancer cells to destroy them by means of hyperthermia, a technique that exposes affected tissues to high temperatures in order to kill cells. The award-winner, Mar Creixell, holds a PhD in Biomedicine from the UB and is now researching at the University of Texas (Austin). Her study was published in the journal ACS Nano under the title “EGFR-Targeted magnetic nanoparticle heaters kill cancer cells without a perceptible temperture rise”.

The Antoni Caparrós Prize for the best project of knowledge transfer awarded a collaboration among the group BCN Perceptual Computing Lab at the Faculty of Mathematics of UB, led by Professor Petia Ivanova Radeva, a clinical group of the Hospital Germans Trias i Pujol, led by Doctor Josepa Mauri, and the North-American company Boston Scientific, worldwide leader in coronary interventional products. To be exact, UB researchers have developed a computer application that studies intravascular ultrasound images (IVUS images) —used in coronary interventions— and facilitates their interpretation and quantifying. The firm has already set up the process to include the computer application in its products. It will provide worldwide doctors with more interventional tools to improve patientsʼ health.

Infinitec Activos, a company devoted to create products for important cosmetic firms that has an uncommon business model, received the Senén Vilaró Prize for the best innovative company. Infinitec was created by two professionals from the commercial sector; they knew that they had to collaborate with research groups at the Barcelona Science Park (PCB). The business was set up in 2006 thanks to a loan of 120,000 euros and now, seven years later, the company has an annual turnover of 2 million euros, it employs sixteen people and has forty-six distributors around the world; 80% of its turnover comes from foreign markets. It has a production plant in Montornès del Vallès (Barcelona) and its R&D lab at the Bioincubator of PCB and the Bosch i Gimpera Foundation. In 2011, Alfons Hidalgo, founder of Infinitec together with his partner Josep Maria Borràs, moved to the United States to invigorate the presence of the company in the country. Hidalgo has arrived to the United States with the professional career that led him to set up this entrepreneurial project.

The Bosch i Gimpera Foundation evaluates its activity

For thirteen years, the Bosch i Gimpera Foundation has managed 206 priority patents (projects which are first patented and introduced in the market during one year) and 134 international patents (particularly scientifically and commercially interesting projects), and signed 69 license agreements with companies to transfer technology. The Board of Trustees and the Bosch of Gimpera Foundation presented these data within the annual award ceremony.

In 2013, contracts and agreements managed by the Bosch i Gimpera Foundation have represented a total of 33 million euros (data collected in November); this figure has increased by 32% if we consider 2012 data. The increase is due to important contributions to competitive projects such as the grants given by the European Research Council (ERC). Concerning business creation, FGB has supported 31 spin-offs for the last ten years. In the field of basic research, it was highlighted that a total of 589 PhD theses have been read at the University of Barcelona in the academic year 2012-2103 (566 were read in 2011-2012).