Spanish company Bmat, winner of the Hit Barcelona’s Global Entrepreneurship Competition. Bmat specializes in the development of music and audio technology software.

The South African company The Broccoli Project and Indian company Polyskin joined the podium in second and third position.

Global Entrepreneurship Competition winners

Spanish company Bmat come out winner of the first edition of the Global Entrepreneurship Competition, the first ever truly international tournament that brought together at HiT Barcelona - World Innovation Summit some of the business plans/early-stage companies with the highest growth potential in the world.

Bmat is based in Barcelona and specializes in the development of music and audio software that understands music and organises in a human readable and intuitive way a service that tracks content everywhere. Bmat uses advanced analysis tools to create new intuitive possibilities to interact with digital music. Bmat offers a sound search engine, an intelligent player that adapts music to the mood of the user, a system for recommending music based on the personal profile of each user or or detecting whether a song is an original or a remix, a live or studio recording.

The winner of the competition won a 50.000 Euros awards and the inclusion in business development programmes offered by Barcelona Activa and 22@.

The second prize went to The Broccoli Project from South Africa with a 20,000 Euros awards and third prize to Polyskin from India with a 10,00 Euros award.

The Broccoli Project is a management program designed for NGOs to help people without resources. Based on a model similar to customer fidelity incentives and relying on a user profile management programme and a powerful biometric database, the platform creates an assignment schedule rewarding those people enrolled in healthcare programmes, actively looking for a job or trying to school their children who show the most positive attitude and outlook and helping them cover their basic needs. The Broccoli Project was nominated to participate in the Global Entrepreneurship Competition by the Economic and Social Development Agency in Cape Town (South Africa).

Polyskin developed an effective and affordable artificial skin substitute to use for the treatment of burns or skin lesions. India and other developping countries currently lack affordable solutions for the treatment of burns and other skin lesions as existing treatments (skin grafts, bioactive membranes etc.) are highly technical and expensive, thus limiting their use.

Polyskin addresses this issue and offers an innovative solution using biodegradable polymer particules, encapsulated in a pharmaceutical medium, which bind together at room temperature and in one single procedure to form a biological membrane, allowing for immediate use as skin substitute in treatment of burns and other lesions.

There are many benefits to Polyskin’s solution: it is easy to use, decreases fluid loss, decreases the risk of infection, improves healing of infected wounds and skin generation, making it the most cost-effective burn and lesion treatment. Polyskin is a spin-off of the India National Institute of Immunology to participate in the Global Entrepreneurship Competition by the Indian National Science and Technology Entrepreneurship Development Board.

Best presentation and best social value

Two 5,000 Euros prizes were awarded to Echopixel Technologies and The Broccoli Project for best presentation and best social value. Echopixel Technologies is based in Mexico and is dedicated to improving patient care by providing innovative stereoscopic, three-dimensional imaging solutions that are non-invasive to better detect, diagnose and treat diseade.

The first edition of the Global Entrepreneurship Competition included 28 participants representing 21 countries. 24 of these projects were selected by a committee formed by some of the most renowned ‘Entrepreneurship Centres (business schools, universities, technology parks and incubators) in the world. The other four finalists came from existing entrepreneur development programmes: 3 from the Emprendedor XXI Award, promoted by “la Caixa” and ENISA, and one from the XV Fòrum d’Investment d’ACC1Ó.

In addition to the awards, all participating companies participating in the competition will be offered a year of free office space in the technological district 22 @ Barcelona to help them establish their European headquarters.

For Jerry Engel, the quality of the participating projects was

“an example of the innovation taking place around the world. HiT Barcelona has proven to be a strategic meeting for high growth business plans. “

And Mobile Innovation EMEA Tournament

Cleantech Awards

Healthcare Awards

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“Metahesis makes the production of many chemical products cheaper.”

3 reasons to invest in Apeiron Synthesis, by Prof. Mark Harris

• They have created a business upon world-class novel technology.
• This is a global market.
• The team is a very good mix of technologists an business people.

About the product

• We offer very efficient catalysts for the production of high-value specialized chemical products (pharmaceutical, cosmetics, advanced polymers, etc).
• Its a top level science.
• Metahesis makes the production of many chemical products cheaper.

• Can create completely new products.
• Its considered to be a green technology.
• The catalyst is the engine of metathesis.

Market

• Catalyst market is worth 15 billion $
• Price per gram : Gold $31; Metahesis Catalyst $550
• Completely new market

Extract by Josep Oriol Ayats

The Plan Puyhuan model applies business and entrepreneurial approaches, bringing together public and private investors, to accelerate scalable sustainable solutions, together with great business opportunities in rural areas of developing nations - integrating the triple bottom line of financial, social and environmental value into its DNA like a triple helix of change.

Plan Puyhuan delivers a new model in planning & managing sustainable human development, with intensive use of Information Communication Technologies (ICTs). This model is replicable on a global scale, achieving local sustainability in 5 years, improving the quality of life, whilst delivering significant ROI for investors.

We can no longer afford to neglect the populations in rural areas of developing nations, as their life conditions remains a breeding ground for unrest and threatens (inter)national security.

Impoverished rural communities across the developing world suffer from a lack of local capacity for managing development, and from the failure of governments, international institutions and the private sector to integrate their rural development efforts.  But by using the know-how and technological means that already exist today, we can generate quantum leaps of change to bridge the current social and digital divide.
GROUP PUYHUAN is an international network of leading experts in Management, Healthcare, Education, Tourism, Technology etc, creating Plan Puyhuan, which:

•    Places the citizen at the centre of analysis to research, design, and implement one strategic planning model in a chosen rural area, to deliver integrated human sustainable development.

•    Brings together public, institutional and private sector investment with a unified stakeholder vision of the future for the community.

•    Uses technological advancements and Information and Communications Technologies (ICTs) to create seismic change, through innovations in areas such as; educational and healthcare systems, as well as increasing local productivity.

IMPACT
•    Rural citizens are empowered to become active participants and valuable human resources in the global economy, acquiring the capacity for planning and managing sustainable development.

•    The Private Sector achieves higher ROI across the triple bottom line from social responsibility impact and/or the participation from new business opportunities identified.

COLLABORATION
Deltron Computers, Gilat Communications, USAID, IMF, ENDESA, Project Development International Fund, Ashoka Fellowship

Human health problems take the first place in the modern society. Lately, the problem of heart valve prostheses and implantation becomes more and more critical.

The existing types of heart valves can not be considered good enough as for they cannot provide safety and comfort of the patients: biological heart valves do not require intake of special drugs, but there is need of reimplantation in 7-10 years; mechanical heart valves have high durability, but require intake of anticoagulant drugs. According to the opinion of the leading experts in the artificial heart valves sphere, none of the existing heart valve types is suitable for majority of patients. Therefore, there is a huge need in the heart valves of new generation.
Starting 2001 RosCardioInvest company has been developing a new model of artificial heart valve – tri-leaflet valve TriCardics, that does not have any analogues on the world market.

The basic advantages which is offered by a new product design to patients:
New valves provide central blood flow, which reduces the level of turbulence.

Improved quality of patient life: reduce consumption of anticoagulants, low noise, low blood haemolysis and high reliability.

Valves combine advantages of both valves types, which presently existing: mechanical valves reliability and the low improved characteristics, characteristic for biological valves. Thanks to it, valves can take a place in the 1.2 bln USD world heart valve market.
RosCardioInvest was the first company in the world which successfully completed human clinical trials of the tri-leaflet heart valve in 2008. 38 implantations were made by the start of 2009. Tri-leaflet heart valve TriCardics first in the world was approved for patients in Russia in March 2009.
Tri-leaflet heart valve is protected by 6 Russian patents, 2 European patents, 1 US patent and several international patent applications.

In June 2008 HATEC SA was founded, in Thessaloniki as a startup company in Technopolis Incubator  in 9ο klm PO box 60756, Pylaia 570 01, Thessaloniki, Greece. The partners are HUMAN ASSET SA, Technopolis Business Park and Dimitris Tolis, the CEO.

HATEC’s foundation is the customers need for effective e-learning integrated solution. E-learning with the form of web based training is not considered a successful training method. Interactivity is missing. E-learning (asynchronous and synchronous) is being more and more popular. The Interactive Content (Reusable Learning Objects) based on International Standards (SCORM) is effective and acceptable to many learners worldwide. The problem is that many organisations and educational institutes deal with each on of the previous methods and means, as if they were isolated. This situation depreciates the added value of the new trends in learning and vocational training.
HATEC offers integrated software solutions for e-learning in institutions and companies. We provide software platforms for asynchronous (Learning Management Systems) and synchronous e-learning.

E-learning content: We create custom Training Material, multimedia and interactive, (SCORM, IMS) for company’s e-learning Training Programs based on the company’s needs. Also we offer consulting services to the HR and Training Department of companies: e-Learning Training Strategy consultancy, Instructional Design. Finally we provide Expert Training on e-Learning methodology, techniques and media. (Train the Trainer & the e-learning Trainer, Train the e-learning Organizer, Train the Instructional Designer)
The main target group for us are mainly Public Organisations, Ministries and Training Institutions, Private companies (over 100 employees) and Franchise Networks.
Our sales strategy has 3 axes. To participate in calls for tenders for Public Institutions, to work as consultants and integrators for Public Institutions and to have sales to the free market for the private sector.

Pixable enables you to print your Facebook content in under 5 minutes.

Pixable, an MIT startup, offers a fast, easy and creative way to turn your Facebook content into printed memorabilia such as photo books, calendars, or posters, which are printed, packaged and home delivered, all at an affordable price. What about a photo book as a present for your boyfriend with all the pictures where both of you are tagged, including captions or comments left by friends? What about a calendar with the profile picture and name of all your Facebook friends printed on the day of their birthday?

We started Pixable because we know hundreds of people who want to print photo books using content on Facebook but currently have no efficient way to do so. Until Pixable, they had the following problems:

•    Speed: If you wanted to print your (or your friends) Facebook photos today it would take a long time! Just downloading Facebook photos individually, visiting a photo-printing site, then uploading, organizing, adding titles, and printing them can take five hours! And that assumes that you know where the photos you want are. Currently, there is no easy way to collect all the photos in which you or someone else is tagged.
•    Missing content: If you used the method above, you miss out on much of the content on Facebook that can complement the printed photos : tags, captions, quotes, messages on your wall, status updates, and comments left by friends.
•    Redundancy: Isn’t it frustrating to know that all the photos and information that you wanted to select were already organized on FB? Photos on Facebook are already organized in many different ways - by person, by event/trip, by album name, by tagging information. Why should you have to replicate the process?

Cordatec is a company that develops, manufactures and commercialises innovative ideas and technologies for cardiology, cardiac surgery, anaesthesiology and intensive care.

Company Overview
For our first product, the A-View catheter, we managed to obtain CE label and FDA approval.
As we thrive on IP rights, we already have one product fully internationally patented and patents pending for 2 follow-up products.

Product or Service
Cordatec NV has one commercial product on the market, the A-view balloon catheter.  The A-View catheter makes it possible to see the degree of atherosclerosis in the ascending aorta prior to sternotomy.  This way, the surgeon has the possibility to change the operation strategy and thus drastically reduce the possibility for postoperative neurological complications, caused by emboli merging from 3% to 1%. For the Netherlands this accounts for an annual reduction of 450 to 150 patients or a structural cost saving of 6 million Euros per year.

Market
Within the medical industry, Cordatec NV focuses on the niches of cardiology, cardiac surgery, anaesthesiology and intensive care products.  Management believes that Cordatec’s products will facilitate the treatment of heart diseases which include arrhythmias and heart failure, as well as vascular diseases which include coronary and peripheral artery disease, and aortic aneurysm.  Heart disease afflicts nearly 22 million people worldwide each year, of which about 5% receive therapy annually.

Team and Shareholders
Cordatec NV is a development stage company which effectively started in 2003.  We have already attracted international private investors.

Business Proposition
As an international-oriented company Cordatec NV wishes to seek international capital. Funds will be used to invest in sales and marketing, especially in order to expand European sales, as well as to enter into the US market

Echopixel is a medical imaging company that has positioned itself to become a leading player in a market that will double in size within the next 10 years—Colorectal Cancer (CRC) screening.

Every year, there are 14 million optical colonoscopies (OC) performed in the U.S. at an average cost of US$2,000_US$28 billion. CRC is the second leading cause of cancer deaths in the western world. It affects men and women 50 years and older and, when detected early, is curable in 90% of the cases.

Despite this, every year there are still 138,000 deaths in Europe and 150,000 new cases and 60,000 deaths in the U.S. from CRC.

The prefered early detection procedure for CRC is ‘optical colonoscopy‘ (OC), in which a camera is introduced rectally through the patient’s abdomen to detect polyps and flat lesions, the malformations that become cancer. Because of the nature of the procedure, more than 70% of people at risk do not undergo screening for CRC. Recent studies have shown that OC can miss more than 22% of polyps and at least 35% of flat lesions, which are twice as likely to be cancerous.

Echopixel is introducing Gastro Therapy Planning (GTP), a non-invasive CRC screening solution that enables doctors to use computed tomography (CT) images of a patient’s abdomen to display a 3D model of the colon and, by using a navigate-anddetect approach, to visually locate polyps and flat lesions. Our patented software/hardware solution incorporates stereoscopic 3D visualization software that adds a new visual cue_diagnostic depth perception_that significantly enhances the identification of polyps and flat lesions, becoming a significant complimentary procedure to OC.

Echopixel has attracted a world class team of Silicon Valley veterans and radiology industry leaders who are positioning our company for success with OEM partners such as Philips Medical and Olympus.

The magnitude of the global tuberculosis (TB) epidemic is immense – more than one third of the world’s population is currently infected. There are nearly 9 million new TB cases annually and five thousand deaths every day.  Sputum microscopy is the most common test currently used to diagnose TB, but it only detects roughly 20-30% of all pulmonary TB cases.  Improved diagnostics are crucial for combating this growing epidemic.

AutoTB is dedicated to improving the diagnostic sensitivity and specificity of sputum microscopy, while remaining inexpensive and accessible to healthcare professionals in developing countries.  The AutoTB device automates sputum microscopy, thereby decreasing analysis time, increasing sensitivity and eliminating human error present in current procedures while also integrating into existing infrastructures and remaining affordable for developing countries.  AutoTB provides a clear advantage – a simple, rapid, automated, sensitive, and inexpensive TB diagnostic test.

The medical and economic benefits of this device provide a competitive advantage over existing technologies and make it marketable to a wide range of customers including NGOs, governmental health departments, and private foundations.  AutoTB will initially target high-burden TB countries in the developing world and will capture a significant portion of the $1 billion global market for TB diagnostics.

In the long-term, AutoTB will expand into other bacterial infections (e.g. malaria) and will provide a robust point-of-care diagnostics platform that can be applied to both developing and developed world markets.  AutoTB addresses a clear, unmet and growing market need while also providing an opportunity for future diversification and growth.