The biotechnology company Valencia, Darwin Bioprospecting Excellence has been awarded the QIA (Quality Innovation Awards) award as one of the most innovative SMEs in the world for the search for microorganisms with different industrial applications.

The award ceremony took place in Kazakhstan where the CEO of the company, Manuel Porcar, and Jordi Sebastiá, director of external relations of the Valencian Institute of Business Competitiveness, attended (IVACE), which has accompanied and advised the company in all phases of this award.

This year, the QIA awards, in which the Association of Promotion Centers of Excellence of Spain collaborates, among which is Ivace, has celebrated its sixteenth edition with a total of 728 registered applications, of which only 24 have been awarded worldwide, being Darwin Bioprospecting, a spin-off of the University of Valencia. (UV), the only representative of the Valencian Community.

Manuel Porcar, CEO of DARWIN, explains that "it is a recognition of a business model that in the case of this company consists of the development of new products for the industry based on microorganisms and in close collaboration with each of the clients." And, beyond probiotics, microbial diversity offers endless possibilities: there are microorganisms capable of degrading plastic, producing biogas or decontaminating waters rich in sulfates, among others.

For his part, the director of external relations at Ivace, Jordi Sebastià, has shown his satisfaction that the Valencian Community continues to be on the world map of innovation thanks to the effort and work of leading companies such as Darwin Bioprospecting, while highlighting the commitment of Ivace and the Department of Sustainable Economy to innovation as an engine of growth.

Ivace offers SMEs advice and support in all phases of the QIA Awards, both national and international, achieving this year a successful participation with 32 companies registered in the different categories.

Pioneering technology and solutions to la carte

Darwin Bioprspecting Excellence is located in the UV Science Park and offers 'à la carte' microbial solutions. The company has its own technology that allows it to cultivate what cannot be cultivated and grow microorganisms in the laboratory that other companies are not capable of cultivating.

This innovative technology has led the biotechnology company to obtain one of the three awards in the SME Business Innovation category of the QIA 2023 Awards. Manuel Porcar assures that “this recognition represents a boost to a business model based on more R&D cutting edge.”

Jordi Sebastià also recalled that DARWIN is one of the 50 companies that since 2018 have participated in the European business growth program ScaleUp, supported by the European Commission and awarded internationally, where it was awarded in the 2020 edition. This European program is coordinated by Ivace in collaboration with the SEIMED network and the European Center for Business and Innovation (CEEI). of Valencia.

Spain, the country with the most awards

The different participating innovations came from Botswana, China, Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, India, Israel, Kazakhstan, Latvia, Lithuania, Rwanda, Russia, South Africa, Serbia, Spain, Swaziland, Sweden and Zimbabwe. Of all of them, Spain has been the country that has had the greatest number of innovations awarded in these QIA 2023 Awards. The criteria that have been followed to evaluate the different candidates have been based on novelty value, usability, learning, customer orientation and effectiveness.