The CLH Group and ADE award prizes to the best innovative projects in Castilla y León

• The winners are the initiatives MEALFOOD EUROPE and ITOS3D ENGINEERING

The Chairman of the CLH Group, José Luis López de Silanes, and the Chairman of ADE and Minister for Economy and Employment of the Regional Government of Castilla y León, Tomás Villanueva, have presented the CLH awards to the two best business projects in the second edition of the ADE2020 awards for 2014, during a ceremony held at the Centre for Business Solutions.

The winners are MEALFOOD EUROPE, submitted by two entrepreneurs from Salamanca, who propose a new process for rearing and selling yellow mealworm, and ITOS3D ENGINEERING, submitted by two entrepreneurs from Avila, who propose new software for creating three-dimensional models from photographs.

Apart from the winners, certificates of recognition were presented to 20 different promoters of business initiatives submitted in the two latest editions of the ADE2020 “Innovative Projects Accelerator” programme, which has enabled a series of innovative projects to be moved, guided and positioned in the market.

The collaboration between the Agency for Business Innovation, Funding and Internationalisation of Castilla y León (ADE) and CLH is the result of an agreement signed last July by both entities to promote and develop initiatives that provide support to entrepreneurs in Castilla y León.

The ADE2020 "Innovative Projects Accelerator" programme is an ADE initiative that brings together a series of resources aimed at innovative entrepreneurial projects, with the aim of transforming them into viable businesses in the shortest possible timeframe. To achieve this, the accelerator offers entrepreneurs a team of professionals who provide a personal coaching service for drawing up and deploying the business plan. It also includes education and training in specific areas.

This agreement between ADE and CLH falls within the Entrepreneurship Support Policy started up by the company to contribute to innovation, the development of new ideas and, in general, the fostering of a new entrepreneurial spirit. This policy is applied on a nation-wide scale, with special emphasis on the towns where CLH has infrastructures.

Within this policy, the company has sponsored the 2nd Entrepreneurship Campus in San Fernando de Henares, has collaborated with the Carlos III University in Madrid in the 1st Meeting of Entrepreneur Alumni and has signed an agreement with CampusIberus for promoting entrepreneurship in the Ebro Valley.

These and other courses of action have led to the CLH Group being awarded the "Strategy for Entrepreneurship and Youth Employment Member Company 2013-2016" seal, which is granted by the Ministry of Employment and Social Security.

Winners

The projects rewarded by the CLH Group, according to the ADE panel of experts, in the second edition of the ADE2020 programme are MEALFOOD EUROPE and ITOS3D ENGINEERING.

MEALFOOD EUROPE is an initiative promoted by Sabas de Diego and Adriana Casillas, two entrepreneurs from Salamanca who rear, reproduce and sell yellow mealworm (Tenebrio molitor) and its by-products. Its production is aimed at animal feeds, such as fish and poultry farms or feed manufacturers, the chemical industry for the production of fertilisers and even the cosmetics, pharmaceutical and forestry industries. The company, based in Salamanca, also works on research for integrating its production into the food chain, in line with the recent recommendations of the FAO (Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations) on using insects as a source of calories and protein.

The other winner is ITOS3D ENGINEERING, developed by entrepreneurs Diego González and Ana Isabel Herráez from Ávila. Their company meets the growing demand from insurance companies for cost reduction by reducing the presence of experts at accident scenes. For this purpose, ITOS3D offers them a tool to obtain a 3D model of the real scenario with a high level of reliability from the images of the accident sent by the insured. The company aims at offering advanced, intelligent and tailored 3D services based on cloud computing to generate 3D models at any level for the engineering, architecture and many other sectors.

As pointed out by the Chairman of CLH, José Luis López de Silanes, in his speech: “Both projects reflect the entrepreneurial talent existing in Castilla y León” and their development “will benefit the region”. Additionally, the Minister for Economy and Employment of the Regional Government of Castilla y León, Tomás Villanueva, emphasised: “More entrepreneurial initiatives are necessary”.