Four entrepreneurship projects linked to the University of Navarra have received the award CRN, endowed with 5,000 euros. This award, which submission Caja Rural de Navarra thanks to partnership agreement that maintains with the academic center, recognizes the interest and promotion of entrepreneurship.

The event submission was attended by the University of Navarra's Alumni Vice President , Tomás Gómez-Acebo; the representatives of the financial institution Gonzalo Soto and Ricardo Goñi; and the heads of the Innovation Factory, Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship of the University of Navarra, David Luquin and Gustavo Pego.

The four award-winning projects are: KOXKOR; the laboratory of Medical Engineering of the University of Navarra; NEBULOK; and ABANZA Tecnomed S.L.

KOXKOR is a platform that makes life more pleasant for people suffering from diabetes or food intolerances. It is also a network where users rate the innovations that affect them, comment on the quality of the products and the establishments that offer them.

The laboratory of Medical Engineering of the University of Navarra, which this course has already received the award BINVAS 2017 awarded by BIC Gipuzkoa and the Provincial Council of Gipuzkoa, has been recognized for its new lumbar puncture simulator. This model aims to improve training and assessment of this medical maneuver, all in realistic clinical conditions and without putting patients at risk. In addition, this is one of the first products it hopes to put on the market from the know-how and activity of research and development that the laboratory is developing in partnership with other centers and Schools of the University.

Innovative solutions for drug delivery and sports medicine

For its part, NEBULOK receives funding from Caja Rural de Navarra for an initiative promoted by a team of engineers, doctors and pharmacists from the University of Navarra who have launched a project to commercialize and develop the most innovative solution for the administration of drugs via the respiratory route by means of nebulization. The new patented solution provides new and important opportunities for pharmaceutical companies, allowing them to offer novel presentations of new drugs or even those with expired patents, thus generating new and larger markets.

ABANZA Tecnomed S.L., business of the biomedical sector specialized in the research and development technology in the field of Sports Medicine, has also been awarded. Founded by Juan Abascal Azanza, it focuses its activity on the reconstruction of the Anterior Cruciate Ligament (ACL) of the knee, one of the most prevalent sports injuries worldwide (in Europe alone about 350,000 ACL ruptures annually). Its mission statement is to improve the results obtained in the market with current procedures and devices, providing the means to guarantee patients a faster and more effective rehabilitation. The Clínica Universidad de Navarra collaborates with this project, especially in the testing and validation processes of the developed products.