Andreu Climent, best European Innovator of the Year

Andreu Climent, researcher at the ITACA Institute of the Universitat Politècnica de València (UPV), has won the first prize at the EIT Awards, organized by the European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT).

Climent has won the highest award thanks to the AF-FINE innovation project and the ACORYS® device, a non-invasive medical device capable of seeing the heart as if we had inserted catheters, but in a totally safe and simple way, which facilitates the diagnosis and treatment of cardiac arrhythmias. The development of ACORYS® has been led by Corify Care SL (Corify), a medical start-up focused on cardiac arrhythmias. The award is endowed with 50,000 euros. In addition, Climent has taken third place in the public vote.

“The support of the European Institute of Technology for the AF-FINE project, valuing it as the Innovator of the Year Award, is a huge boost that helps us to move forward and make our research available to all patients with cardiac arrhythmias as soon as possible. This award is the result of the hard work of a huge team of people, from Corify, ITACA at the UPV, the Gregorio Marañón Hospital, Genesis Biomed and so many other agents who are helping us ”, Andreu Climent pointed out.

About cardiac arrhythmia and ACORYS®

Cardiac arrhythmia affects more than 10 million people in Europe and statistics indicate that one in three adults will suffer from an arrhythmia in our lifetime. They are characterized by the fact that a part of the heart, the atrium, stops working in a coordinated way and starts to activate several hundred times per second. The main problem is that for more than half of the patients there is no effective treatment. Patients transition between drugs, defibrillations and multiple invasive interventions and in approximately 50% of cases without success.

There are a large number of cardiac mapping systems on the market, but the vast majority are invasive and require inserting catheters into the heart before knowing whether the treatment will be effective. However, the interventions are complex, expensive, not without danger, and can only be offered to a very small number of patients (3-5%), and what is worse, their long-term efficacy rarely exceeds 65%.

“ACORYS® stands out for its ease of application in clinical practice as it is not invasive. It would make it possible to notably improve the diagnosis and the efficacy of patient treatment, thus improving the lives of millions of patients ”, Andreu Climent highlighted.

The EIT Awards honor the most talented entrepreneurs in Europe who drive solutions to the urgent challenges facing the continent in issues such as climate, energy, food, health and raw materials. They include five categories, represent an incentive for the work of entrepreneurs and promote innovation with a European stamp.

Andreu Climent was the candidate for EIT’s health division, EIT Health. With the AF-FINE innovation project and the ACORYS® device, he is, since yesterday, the best European innovator according to the European Institute of Innovation and Technology.

Source: UPV’s Information Office