As part of the INIZIA DAY event, the awards of the same name were presented. The ceremony was led by Ixone Fernandez de Labastida, Vice-Rector of the Araba Campus of the University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU), and attended by Ane de Ariño, Director of Entrepreneurship and Internationalization of the Basque Government; David Montero, Director of BIC Araba; Mireia Martínez, technician at BIC Araba; and Amaia Calleja, Director of Entrepreneurship and Transfer at the Araba Campus.

Additionally, we had the pleasure of listening to Miren Garcia-Chazarra, one of the founders of GLO, a company transforming the world of technobeauty, as part of the talk “Think Like an Entrepreneur.” The company’s mission is to provide every woman with the opportunity to feel confident in her body as a path to building self-esteem and confidence.

The awards are part of the INIZIA Arabacampus program, which aims to promote an entrepreneurial culture and is supported by the Araba Campus of UPV/EHU and BIC Araba. Their purpose is to recognize innovative business projects and/or technology-based projects.

The awards are divided into two categories. The first, “New Innovative Projects,” is aimed at graduates or postgraduates from any cycle at UPV/EHU, as well as promoters using technology developed as a result of research conducted at UPV/EHU or through the university’s Industrial Property Rights (IPR).

In this category, the winner was Daniel Ochoa de Eribe for his project “Scouter: Intelligent Emergency Detection System.” It is a computer vision system based on artificial intelligence, designed to process and analyze images in real-time, looking for patterns that could trigger an emergency alert, such as people in danger or fire sources.

The second prize in this category went to Aitor Tejo for his project “Development of Volumetric 3D Printing in the Medical Field.” This project includes the design and fine-tuning of volumetric 3D printers, the development of cutting-edge volumetric 3D printing technology tailored to the client’s needs, hardware and software optimization to ensure the best quality and efficiency in additive manufacturing, and consulting for integrating these printers into industrial and biomedical environments.

In the “Final Degree Projects, Master’s Thesis, and Doctoral Dissertations” category, one of the awards went to Azaitz Hierro for his work “Particle Detection Workshops with a Cloud Chamber.” This project, based on cloud chamber technology, has clear entrepreneurial potential due to its ability to present particle physics in an accessible and visually appealing way to diverse audiences. This pedagogical approach opens up numerous opportunities for scientific outreach, educational material development, and business models focused on science learning products.

Another award in this category went to Markel Erauskin for his project “Data Acquisition and Processing for Robotic Stations.” His work is closely linked to entrepreneurship, addressing the need for innovative solutions in the automotive industry. The creation of a custom control unit and the integration of advanced technologies like MQTT and Grafana for data visualization offer an entrepreneurial approach to optimizing industrial processes. In addition to improving operational efficiency, the project provides the opportunity to develop products and services that can be marketed and applied in other production environments.

Additionally, the third prize in this category went to Aitor Flores for his work “Valuation Report of a Financial Entity: The Case of Renta 4.” This project presents an innovative methodology for evaluating financial companies, applying it to the real case of Renta 4 Banco. Valuing companies in the financial sector is particularly complex compared to other sectors, due to their regulatory framework, balance sheet structure, and sensitivity to interest rates.

After the awards ceremony, Ixone Fernandez de Labastida congratulated all participants and especially the winners, saying, “You are the representatives of an entrepreneurial culture. You are creators, motivated individuals with initiative and a clear innovative vocation, and I am sure this will lead to numerous academic and professional successes.” She also added, reflecting on the current context, “It is especially important to remember that the culture of entrepreneurship must always be based on personal ethics and respect for the Sustainable Development Goals.”

This year’s edition received 8 applications in the “New Innovative Projects” category and 8 in the “Final Degree Projects, Master’s Thesis, and Doctoral Dissertations” category.