UCAM LifeTech Summit Awards Gate2Brain for Its Impact
The third edition of the LifeTech Summit, organized by UCAM HiTech, the UCAM innovation and business acceleration hub and part of the INCYDE Foundation’s High-Tech Incubator Network, has closed its pitch competition by awarding two startups from the Spanish scientific ecosystem for their investment attraction potential and the social impact of their solutions. Each startup received a prize worth 2,000 euros: Trak and Gate2Brain.
The awards were made possible thanks to the support of Telefónica and the sponsorship of Letslaw, Cinfa, Info Región de Murcia, H&A, Caixabank, CMG MedDev, and Grupo Orenes, entities firmly committed to science-based entrepreneurship as a driver of innovation and economic development. The awards were presented by Samuel Rabadán, Director of DayOne for the Valencian Community and Murcia Region at Caixabank, and María José Bernal, Head of Business Development at Info.
Recognition of science that interests investors
The jury evaluated ten seed-stage projects, many of them emerging from universities, hospitals, and research centers, reaffirming the growing appeal of deep tech startups and the biotech and medical device sectors.
The most investable startup, awarded for its scalability potential and technological maturity, was Trak, represented by Jaime Rodríguez, which offers a personalized digital rehabilitation solution using artificial intelligence. Its platform improves therapeutic adherence, reduces costs, and enables personalized clinical monitoring from anywhere, making it a highly efficient tool for healthcare systems and insurers.
Meanwhile, the award for the startup with the greatest impact went to Gate2Brain, represented by Meritxell Teixidó, for its shuttle peptide technology that facilitates the transport of drugs to the brain, opening new therapeutic avenues for diseases such as childhood brain tumors.
Murcia’s healthcare system in search of disruptive technologies
During the LifeTech Summit, representatives from the Murcia Health Service, the Virgen de la Arrixaca Hospital, and Ribera Salud held meetings with ten scientific startups with high potential for clinical application: Teraomics, Ainovis, Gennetika, MATCH Biosystems, Heuristik, Trak, Ownmed Innovation, Limbium, Vasomaly, and Corsonic.
The proposals presented addressed key challenges facing the healthcare system, such as the early diagnosis of complex diseases, the automation of clinical processes, patient tracking, improved physical rehabilitation, advanced vascular analysis, solutions for people with ostomies or amputees, and the use of artificial intelligence in radiology and cardiology. This interaction between startups and hospitals reflects the Murcia healthcare ecosystem’s commitment to identifying emerging technologies and has opened up opportunities for collaboration on projects with high potential to improve clinical care and positively impact patients’ lives.
Transfer as a Driver of Growth
According to the Report on Healthcare Entrepreneurship in Spain, more than 80% of the most successful spin-offs in the sector originate in academic settings, but only those capable of clinically validating their solutions and connecting with investors from an early stage manage to scale.
The LifeTech Summit responds to this challenge by connecting science, capital, and talent. In this edition, more than 100 technology-based startups—60% linked to the healthcare sector and 80% in the seed phase—held meetings with more than 100 funds, corporations, and entities in an environment that surpassed last year’s figure of 1,000 meetings, consolidating its position as one of the most active investment forums in applied science in the country. Among the developments presented were digital rehabilitation platforms with AI, real-time immunological diagnostics, clinical biometrics for hospital traceability, and digital therapies for chronic diseases.
This connected environment is reinforced by initiatives such as the scientific entrepreneurship community, Coral (www.thecoral.net), which already brings together more than 1,000 scientists and entrepreneurs committed to bringing science to market.
With this approach, the LifeTech Summit not only rewards projects but also reaffirms its role as a catalyst between science and investment, contributing to the positioning of the Region of Murcia as a hub for innovation in healthcare, biotechnology, and medical technology.
