Distinkt and HeliCure, winners of the UAB Santander X Award
Yesterday, in the Degree Hall of the Faculty of Economics and Business at UAB, Emprèn UAB held the awards ceremony for the “Santander X Award”, an initiative that recognises and promotes entrepreneurial talent from the University's community. In this edition, the winners were Distinkt, in the best start-up category, and HeliCure, as the best entrepreneurial project.
The Santander X Awards are prizes promoted by Banco Santander with the aim of fostering an entrepreneurial culture among the university community and supporting projects with social and economic impact. The initiative is rolled out at various universities, which are responsible for selecting the best proposals emerging from their communities. A total of 26 projects were submitted to the UAB call, 6 in the best start-up category and 20 in the entrepreneurial projects category.
At the awards gala, Rosa Maria Sebastián, Vice-Rector for Innovation, Transfer and Entrepreneurship, highlighted the Emprèn UAB entrepreneurial pathway for helping projects and start-ups to chart their course. In the same vein, she thanked the participants for their entrepreneurial spirit and resilience. Maite Ibern, Head of Entrepreneurship and Business Creation at UAB, introduced the day's jury, which was made up of Anna Gassol, Senior Innovation and Entrepreneurship Analyst at the Barcelona College of Physicians; Judith Cruxent, partner and director of Atma Innovation; Aitor Corpas, strategy and innovation manager at Deloitte; and Maria Poveda, director of Inveready.
Ink against counterfeit
The first winning project, in the university start-up category, was Distinkt, launched by Luca Venza. With its patented technology, Distinkt allows brands to secure products, improve transparency and build trust with the public. Thus, thanks to its ink, it helps to combat counterfeiting and protect the authenticity of goods.
With this prize, Distinkt has won €4,000 for the development of its entrepreneurial solution, as well as direct access to the national ‘Santander X Spain Award | Startup & Scaleup 2026’ award, with additional benefits.
The other two finalist projects were TECOUS, by Francesc Serras, for improving the accessibility of terms and conditions to the public; and BioEclosion, by Jofre Ferrer-Dalmau, dedicated to creating rapid diagnostic devices for low-resource and decentralised environments.
HeliCure: towards the search for a cure for Parkinson's disease
In the University Entrepreneurial Project category, the HeliCure project was awarded the prize. Jordi Pujols, a researcher, explained how they have developed a peptide that blocks the oligomers responsible for the spread of Parkinson's disease.
This project has received €2,000 to continue its work, as well as direct access to the national ‘Santander X Spain Award | University 2026’ prize, where they can compete with other projects and secure additional benefits.
As finalists in this category, we find the projects Pit3D, by Paula Ferrer, for the creation of 3D-printed breast prostheses for women who have undergone a mastectomy; UBRA HEALTH, by Marina Sánchez, for the creation of a smart bra for the prevention of breast cancer; and OPTICmizing, by Álex Gómez, an optical monitoring system that constantly measures the pH of yoghurt in real time.