AEInnova wins the Barcelona Deep Tech Awards

The third edition of the Barcelona Deep Tech Summit has concluded with the celebration of the Best Start-up Deep Tech 2024 Awards. On this occasion, AEInnova has been declared the winner, a spin-off of the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona's Department of Microelectronics created by different researchers with PhD's on microelectronics, telecommunications, and energy.

AEInnova has the goal of transforming high-energy-demand industries into digital and sustainable sectors with the least environmental impact possible. AEInnova is considered a key innovator by the EU in autonomous IoT sensors, with currently more than 30 international awards, some of them awarded by the UN for their implication on the fight against climate change.

A record edition

More than 2.500 people, almost double than last year, have attended the third edition of the Barcelona Deep Tech Summit. More than 70 experts have intervened on this edition, and 47 start-up projects have been presented to give a disruptive answer to the main challenges of our current society: biomedicine, cuantics, new materials, energetic transition, sustainable building, data caption in space, and robotics, among others.

The Barcelona Deep Tech Summit is organised by the Barcelona City Hall through Barcelona Activa, as well as five Catalan universities (UB, UAB, UPC, UPF, and UOC) and the institutional support of the Catalan Government and the Department of Industry and Tourism. This year there have been five new strategic partners: Aldea Ventures, IESE Business School, Barcelona Supercomputing Centre, Mobile World Capital Barcelona, and Tech Barcelona.

An ever-growing sector in Catalonia and Spain

At the BDTS have been presented the latest data that show the reality of the sector both in Catalonia and Spain.

According to the latest Analysis of the Start-up Deep Tech Ecosystems presented by Acció, in Catalonia there are 340 deep tech start-ups, a 6% increase from last year. Those companies employ 2.735 people, an increase of 17% from 2022, and create 166M€ profit (a 3% increase).

The analysis highlights Barcelona as the first European hub in funding for deep tech start-ups, with 544M€ during 2019-2024, ahead of Copenhague, Madrid, or Amsterdam.

On the other side, according to the paper presented by Mobile World Capital, Barcelona: The Deep Tech Spin-Off Ecosystem in Spain, there are more than 1.210 companies in Spain generating an income of more than 2.000M€ and 12.200 of qualified work places. 55% of those are in Catalonia or Madrid.

The sectors where more spin-offs have been created are those related to health (35.6%); ITC and the digital sector (17%); industry and manufacturing (12.4%); and energy and sustainability (12.4%).