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EU Prize for Women Innovators 2022: the winners
On 7 December 2022, the European Innovation Council Summit in Brussels, the European Commission announced the winners of this year's edition of the EU Prize for Women Innovators. The prize is awarded to the most talented women entrepreneurs from across the EU and countries associated to Horizon Europe, who have founded a successful company and brought innovation to the market. It is funded under Horizon Europe and managed by the European Innovation Council and SMEs Executive Agency (EISMEA). Read more about the winners in two prize categories.
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The winners of Women Innovators
Rocío Arroyo (Spain), co-founder and CEO of AMADIX, a company providing personalized medicine solutions for cancer diagnosis. Rocio is a successful example of a Medtech founder and has great inspiration potential. She has received many awards in the EU and Spain for her drive and entrepreneurial spirit. She is part of several committees and communities in the EU and Spain where she acts as an ambassador for women in tech. She is also involved in a platform to mentor other women and promote STEM. She has been successful to attract a skilled team of 18, received several recognitions, private investments from 5 VCs, and public grants.
Dr Ciara Clancy (Ireland), founder and CEO of Beats Medical, a company developing digital therapeutics to help manage and understand neurological and rare diseases. The solution addresses a severe need of people with a multitude of disorders including Parkinson’s and Paediatric Dyspraxia, with a pipeline of new solutions being developed at different TRLs. This technology has the potential for creating a positive impact on the lives of millions of people around the world. Neurological disorders are increasing in prevalence along with the ageing population in Europe. Costs of this increase on healthcare systems are also increasing immensely. Digital solutions for home care and therapy are one disruptive method to reduce costs and increase the quality of life.
Dr Ninna Granucci (France), co-founder and President of Green Spot Technologies, a company producing food ingredients intended to recycle waste. Her company has developed an innovative fermentation process that converts food and vegetable by-products from the food processing industry into high value-added food ingredients. The ingredients have low CO2 impact, are nutritious with health benefits and tasty.
The winners of Rising Innovators
Niamh Donnelly (Ireland), co-founder and CRO of Akara Robotics, a company developing robotic solutions designed for disinfecting hospital rooms. Her company has built an autonomous disinfection robot powered by AI for hospital environments which also contains UV lights that can detect the presence of a human. The Robot will reduce the spread of infectious diseases such as Covid19 in hospital environments.
Iva Gumnishka (Bulgaria), founder and CEO of Humans in the Loop, a social enterprise connecting conflict-affected communities to digital work opportunities. Iva graduated from Columbia University in the US, and chose to return to Bulgaria to set up her company there. She has created a successful company with a social impact that has helped hundreds of refugees across war-torn countries.
Dr Mehak Mumtaz (Portugal), co-founder and COO of iLoF, a company developing a breakthrough AI-platform to accelerate the future of personalized drug discovery and development. Her company iLoF, Intelligent Lab on Fiber, is developing a cloud-based library of digital disease biomarkers that can be used to accelerate the drug discovery process for highly complex diseases. While their focus is currently on treating Alzheimer's disease, this could be expanded to treat other medical conditions. Mehak is the recipient of multiple global awards and recognitions as a digital health entrepreneur.
Other finalists
Zarah Bruhn (Germany), co-founder and CEO of socialbee, a social enterprise dedicated to supporting companies in employing refugees.
Dr Lorena Diéguez, Dr Sara Abalde-Cela and Paulina Piairo (Portugal), co-founders and respectively CEO, CTO and COO of RUBYnanomed, a company developing a non-invasive cancer progression monitoring device.
Dr Alicja Dzieciol (Poland), co-founder and Director of SilviBio, a company developing novel products to minimise the harmful effects of water scarcity on tree seeds and seedlings.
Victoria Mandefield (France), founder and CEO of Solinum, a social enterprise developing a digital tool that references all services, initiatives and resources useful for those in need.
Natalia Tomiyama (Germany), co-founder and Managing Director of NÜWIEL, a company producing e-powered bicycle trailers.
Maria Vircikova (Slovakia), co-founder and CEO of MATSUKO, a company developing a holographic presence app for an immersive communication experience.