Young Aragonese Entrepreneur Award 2010 Aragon
26 Dic 2014PRESS RELEASE Thursday, 27/05/2010
Department of Industry, Trade and Tourism
The founder of the Upper Aragonese company Podoactiva has been honored with the award which is promoted by the Entrepreneurship Foundation in Aragon and the Association of Young Entrepreneurs of Zaragoza.
Tomás Mena (Farmbiocontrol) and Oscar Landeta (Certest Biotec) are the finalists of that year.
The Minister of Industry, Trade and Tourism of the Government of Aragon, Arturo Aliaga, has attended the ceremony of the eighth Young Aragonese Entrepreneur Award, promoted by the Entrepreneurship Foundation in Aragon consisting jointly of the Aragon Institute of Development, CAI and Ibercaja and the Young Entrepreneurs of Zaragoza Association. The jury of the eighth edition of the award has decided that the winner is José Victor Alfaro (Podoactiva). The other finalists were Tomas Mena (Farmbiocontrol) and Oscar Landeta (Certest Biotec).
José Victor Alfaro and Podoactiva
José Victor Alfaro is the founder of Podoactiva, a company created in 1995 from a small chiropody practice located in Huesca and today, besides having spread throughout the country with its own and associated centres, is also expanding internationally. With 22 employees and sales of over a million euros, in 2008, Podoactiva already has a multidisciplinary team in which there are chiropodists, physiotherapists and doctors.
Podoactiva created the first mobile chiropody unit in the country and also its own system for the diagnosis and treatment of gait problems by making custom robotic solutions (Podoactiva insoles). Today Podoactiva is an international benchmark for customized insoles for elite athletes and has clients such as Sanitas-Real Madrid, the Spanish football team, Real Zaragoza, Atlético Madrid, Basket CAI Zaragoza, or SD Huesca, among others. Theactivity of I + D is essential in the company, which collaborates with educational institutions like the University of Zaragoza, San Jorge University and has worked with the Aragonese Footwear Group in the development of projects related to children’s footwear, which improve children’s stability.
Podoactiva is finishing the construction of a new building which will be its head office in WalqaTechnology Park in Huesca, It is a building of 1,200 square meters equipped with all existing developments to date with regard to the analysis of gait. It will have a biomechanics room connected to the latest sports facilities, with the aim of studying each athlete in a medium similar to their own. This centre will be the largest European infrastructure for the diagnosis and treatment of gait problems.
Farmbiocontrol and Certest Biotec, finalists
In the eighth edition of the Young Aragonese Entrepreneur Award Tomás Mena (Farmbiocontrol) and Oscar Landeta (Certest Biotec) were also finalists, both receiving runners-up awards.
Farmbiocontrol (Ejea de los Caballeros, Zaragoza) is a company in the biotechnology industry dedicated to the research, development and innovation of disinfectant pesticides, protocols against major pathogens present in farms of all types and the optimization of resources and systems used to produce food in agro-livestock farms.
Certest Biotec is also a biotechnological company and is dedicated to clinical, nutritional, veterinary and environmental diagnoses. Located in the Zaragoza, headquarters of the European Centre for Business and Innovation of Aragon (CEEIARAGÓN), it specializes in non-instrumental diagnosis, which permits the detection of illnesses without the need for facilities or test equipment, which is especially useful for rapid diagnoses in field tests.
The Young Aragonese Entrepreneur Prize is awarded every two years and aims to distinguish the work of those who are committed socially in a business project which brings development to the region. Entrepreneurs under 40 at the time of application and who have a company which has been active in Aragon for over three years can enter the competition.
In previous years, the award has had winners such as Ricardo Buil (2006 Different Travel, Huesca) and Jose Antonio Ruiz (2008, Iritec, Zaragoza).
