The Blue Economy incubator of the Cádiz Consortium is a finalist in the Water category of these awards, which will be announced on Friday the 21st at the Annual Communication Act of the European Funds
This edition of this event will be held next Thursday and Friday in El Puerto de Santa María and Chiclana respectively.
The Blue Economy incubator of the Free Trade Zone of Cádiz is a candidate for the Europa Se Siente Awards, in the Water category. These awards recognize the best projects executed with European Funds, especially those that present the best results and added value, and have been held since January in different phases, the end of which will be on Friday in an event to be held at the Teatro Moderno de Chiclana.
The event, which will take place on June 20 and 21, includes the final phase of the #EuropaSeSiente contest, to which projects co-financed by the different funds have been submitted in six categories: Competitive, Green, Connected, Social, Nearby and Water. Of all the projects presented, 18 will compete for awards in each of the categories. And, from among these winning projects, the best of the six categories will be chosen.
The last of them, reserved each year for a specific global challenge, on this occasion, will be dedicated to water and is the one chosen by the Free Trade Zone incubator, which has allowed Cádiz to be positioned as a benchmark in the Blue Economy beyond the limits of the province. According to the organizers of these awards, the objective of Incubazul is to promote Innovation and Technology Transfer to microSMEs in Andalusia from Cádiz, for which it develops an acceleration program through which 87 startups have already passed.
Incubazul competes in its category with two other projects. The first of them is “Flood Defense”, a system developed on the Cadagua River in Zalla (Bizkaia) in which a new bridge has been created, with a larger hydraulic section, 41 meters long, without supports in the channel. .
The other candidate is “Desalro 2.0”, a reverse osmosis desalination platform, a project co-financed with European funds that has been carried out at the facilities of the Canary Islands Technological Institute (ITC) in Pozo Izquierdo, Gran Canaria.
The evaluation criteria for the projects presented in all categories highlight the contribution to the fulfillment of the objectives or the resolution of the foreseen problems, the incorporation of innovative elements, the local and regional impact of the projects or the degree of social participation.
For this year's edition of the Annual European Funds Communication Event, two venues have been designated, El Puerto de Santa María and Chiclana de la Frontera. The institutional opening and a meeting with internationally successful Spanish leaders who at some point have received European funding will be held in the Port. The final ceremony of the competition will take place in Chiclana, in which the winning projects in each category will be announced. Among all these sectoral awards, the winner of the 'Gold Star' distinction will be determined.
The State delegate in the Cádiz Free Trade Zone, Fran González, has been very excited and proud that the Cádiz incubator is opting for one of these recognitions. “The mere fact that we are candidates is already a source of pride because she recognizes the work we are doing, that our incubator works and is visible in forums that transcend Cádiz and Andalusia.”
Fran González added that “that Incubazul is working is reflected in the data: a third of the companies invoice and another third present a minimum viable product. I have to thank the entire ecosystem that makes up Incubazul for the work they are doing, in addition to Telefónica Open Future, which has collaborated with us from the first moment.”
