A total of 232 biomedical and technological research projects supported in Spain and Portugal, 50 spin-offs created, 4 innovation licenses granted to companies, and more than 19 clinical trials conducted. These are some of the milestones achieved over a decade by CaixaImpulse, the health innovation project funding initiative of the ”la Caixa” Foundation in collaboration with Criteria Bio Ventures.
CaixaImpulse’s support has enabled numerous biomedical and technological research projects to move from the laboratory to the patient, going beyond the academic sphere to become solutions that improve people’s lives.
Àngel Font, Deputy General Director of Research and Scholarships at the ”la Caixa” Foundation, and Pablo Cironi, Director of Criteria Bio Ventures, today reviewed these first 10 years. The event, held at Palau Macaya, also featured Alicia Martínez Piñeiro, CEO of Time is Brain; José Carlos Pulido, CEO of Inrobics; and Rubén Molina, CEO of Innitius — all CaixaImpulse beneficiaries — as well as Laura Sampietro-Colom, Deputy Director of Innovation at Hospital Clínic Barcelona and a mentor for the program.
The program helps ensure that advances generated in academia — hospitals, universities, or research centers — can be transformed into real solutions for patients. Since its launch in 2015, the ”la Caixa” Foundation has allocated €24.8 million to support the transfer of scientific knowledge to the market through CaixaImpulse, which supports health innovation projects from their earliest stages, providing resources and training so they can move confidently through new phases of development, thus helping bridge the gap between science and society.
CaixaImpulse promotes the maturation of projects during their time in the program so they are better positioned to secure external funding that will bring innovations from the lab to the patient. Since its creation, projects supported by CaixaImpulse have raised over €180 million in additional funding, multiplying by seven the amount initially invested by the ”la Caixa” Foundation. These figures demonstrate the program’s potential to strengthen the biomedical and technological health innovation ecosystem.
Activity and results of CaixaImpulse in the health innovation ecosystem.
The projects selected by CaixaImpulse to date reflect a wide diversity of thematic and business areas — projects can include medical technologies, therapies, diagnostics, and digital health. The selected projects cover a broad range of health challenges, including oncology (62), neurosciences (37), infectious diseases (33), cardiovascular and metabolic diseases (15), and other fields (85) such as ocular, renal, autoimmune, intestinal, and pulmonary diseases, as well as clinical diagnostic methodologies.
This diversity not only aligns with current scientific priorities but also reflects the program’s commitment to promoting transformative solutions that address unmet medical needs and improve patients’ quality of life.
The call for proposals is carried out in collaboration with Criteria Bio Ventures, CriteriaCaixa’s venture capital fund specialized in biotechnology and life sciences. In Portugal, where 32 projects have been supported, the program is run in collaboration with the Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT) of the Portuguese Ministry of Science, Technology, and Higher Education.
Financial support, mentoring, and training
Currently, selected projects can follow a funding path divided into up to three phases, with support that can extend up to five years. Researchers may enter the program at any of these phases, depending on their project’s maturity level; when they reach specific development milestones and pass an evaluation by the review committee, they can advance to subsequent phases with increased funding. In total, a project can receive up to €700,000 if it completes the entire program.
CaixaImpulse supports biomedical projects in the fields of innovation and technology transfer, helping researchers validate their assets and define exploitation and valorization strategies to bring projects closer to the market. In addition to financial support, researchers also gain access to mentoring, consulting, and guidance from international experts in various areas of the innovation ecosystem.
Funding decisions are based on scientific quality and novelty, the medical need addressed by the project, the suitability of the team, the feasibility of implementation, and the potential social impact and business model.
During its first 10 years, CaixaImpulse has established a comprehensive support model for innovation and has provided, in addition to funding, over 5,500 hours of personalized mentoring and more than 870 hours of specialized training to over 300 entrepreneurs, including project leaders and other team members.
The program has a network of more than 20 renowned mentors, including Laura Sampietro, Deputy Director of Innovation at Hospital Clínic; Andrés G. Fernández, founder of AF Biopharma Consulting and CDO at Nanobots Therapeutics; José Luis Cabero, consultant at Symbiokraft, former CEO at AELIX Therapeutics, VP at AstraZeneca, and member of BioAvance Capital’s advisory board; Tamara Maes, founder of Oryzon Genomics, the first Spanish biotech company to go public; Raül Zurita, Head of Innovation and Business Development at the Germans Trias i Pujol Research Institute; and Roger Gomis, Group Leader at IRB Barcelona and founder of Inbiomotion.
The mentoring team also includes entrepreneurial profiles such as Alfonso Carnicero, CEO of ABLE Human Motion, who has democratized lightweight exoskeleton technology, and Beatriz Llamusí, CSO and co-founder of Arthex Biotech, which has developed an RNA therapy for myotonic dystrophy. After their experience as scientist-entrepreneurs and receiving CaixaImpulse support, both now contribute as role models, guiding new projects.
In addition to mentors, scientist-entrepreneurs have access to a network of more than 600 experts in various areas of the innovation process — from intellectual property protection to scaling and production processes or market access strategy — with whom they can collaborate to shape their projects.
The support of this network and the training provided have been key to transforming ideas into real solutions, with four innovations already licensed to companies, demonstrating the program’s capacity to generate effective technology transfer.
The impact of CaixaImpulse is also reflected in the creation of over 285 skilled jobs and the direct improvement of health for more than 3,180 patients treated through clinical trials driven by the projects. In total, 35 hospitals have participated in these studies, strengthening the link between research and clinical practice — driving innovative research that not only generates knowledge but also delivers social and economic value.
Photo: From left to right: José Carlos Pulido, Laura Sampietro, Àngel Font, Pablo Cironi, Alicia Martínez-Piñeiro, and Rubén Molina. © David Campos / ”la Caixa” Foundation.”
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