Inspectrail and Battia, spin-offs of Ceit, take top honors at the 2026 Toribio Echevarria Awards
Two spin-offs backed by the Ceit have won top honors at the Toribio Echevarria Awards for their solutions in railway infrastructure management and battery recycling
09 | 11 | 2026
The spin-offs of Ceit Inspectrail and Battia Recycling Technologies were recognized at the 2026 Toribio Echevarria Awards, whose “ submission ” ceremony took place at the Tekniker technology center in Eibar. Inspectrail won the “ award ” award for “business ” Innovation, while Battia Recycling Technologies took home the awards in the “Startups and Business Projects” and “business ” Eibarresa categories.
The awards come with a prize of 12,000 euros and include access to funding programs, advice, support, and training aimed at fostering the business growth of the winning projects.
Inspectrail, a spin-off of Ceit founded in 2023, has developed a comprehensive inspection system that captures, processes, and displays information on the condition of rail infrastructure. Its platform provides managers and operators with up-to-dat data s to plan maintenance tasks, anticipate the need for interventions, and optimize network maintenance.
During the presentation of the “ award ” award, Pablo Burgos, the company’s CEO, highlighted the importance of having reliable and continuous information to ensure the proper functioning of rail infrastructure. “We were founded with the mission statement to provide high-quality information on the condition of rail infrastructure in order to optimize its operation, management, and maintenance,” he said.
The solution developed by Inspectrail addresses a growing need in the rail sector: to have digital tools that provide accurate information on the condition of the infrastructure and facilitate decision-making regarding its maintenance, safety, and operation.
workshop 's other major award went to Battia Recycling Technologies, business , founded in 2025 by Ceit and Tekniker. The company is developing a smart battery recycling platform designed to preserve the value of battery components and recover critical materials from electric vehicles.
Its work addresses one of the main challenges associated with the transition to an electric mobility : improving the recovery of strategic resources contained in end-of-life batteries and increasing the efficiency of recycling processes. In doing so, it helps strengthen the circular Economics and reduce the European industry’s dependence on critical materials.
The 2026 edition of the Toribio Echevarria Awards attracted a total of 44 nominations. Following the assessment process, the jury selected thirteen finalists: nine in the Startups and Business Projects category and four in the Innovative business category.
The finalist proposals came from fields such as biotechnology and health, artificial intelligence, sustainable industry, new technologies, technology applied to sports, and the green transition. The jury particularly valued the participating teams’ entrepreneurial vision and their ability to transform knowledge and technology into new opportunities for economic and industrial development .
The awards received by Inspectrail and Battia highlight the potential of technology transfer to address strategic industrial challenges. Both companies demonstrate Ceit ’s ability to transform applied research into new business initiatives that help improve infrastructure safety, promote the circular Economics , and strengthen industrial competitiveness.