Foundation Cepsa has celebrated the award ceremony for the first edition of the Future for all Awards, which recognize projects that drive a just ecological transition and contribute to improving the quality of life of people and their surroundings. The ten finalists, selected in a first phase based on the scalability and maturity of their project, as well as the viability of their business model, defended their initiatives at the Cepsa headquarters in Madrid.
These Awards respond to one of Foundation Cepsa’s strategic axes, Innovation in Social Impact, and contribute to boosting its role as an agent of social transformation and a generator of future opportunities. In this first call, 143 candidatures were received from across Spain, with representation from 31 provinces, and from diverse types of entities such as startups, SMEs, foundations, associations, and cooperatives.
In the ceremony, Maarten Wetselaar, president of Foundation Cepsa, stressed: “From Foundation Cepsa we are focused on addressing the challenges of the ecological transition so that it is balanced and inclusive, creating opportunities and not leaving anyone behind. These Awards are born with that purpose, and both the winning projects and the finalists demonstrate their commitment to improving society in areas such as education, environmental sustainability, social inclusion and technological innovation. They are examples that, with determination, creativity and collaboration, we can be agents of change and build a more sustainable world.”
José Moisés Martín Carretero, director of the Center for Technological Development and Innovation (CDTI), highlighted: “Entrepreneurship not only generates a social and economic impact through its capacity to develop new pathways and models. In the current context, especially, its principal value lies in its transformative capacity to provoke changes that amplify the positive impact that innovation, from all profiles, delivers in society, in the well-being of citizens, and in the consolidation of an active and coordinated ecosystem that multiplies the country’s capacities to project itself into the future with more and better guarantees and conditions.”
The responsible initiatives that blend business projects committed to a necessary ecological transition and values that improve people’s lives through projects whose objectives are to help move societies toward a sustainable, environmentally respectful model, and that rely on technology to add value, are essential. Innovation and entrepreneurship, walking hand in hand, form the best future possible.
For the final selection of winners, the finalists AIPC Pandora, Digital Earth Solutions, ECODES, Gravity Wave, Nou Verd, Persiskin, Phytobatea, PlanetAI Space, Sekond Brand and Showee Smart Wellness presented their projects in three-minute pitches. After a joint deliberation by the jury, formed by members of Foundation Cepsa’s Advisory Council and José Manuel Martínez, director of Technology, Projects and Services at Cepsa, the trophies and a prize of 40,000 euros were awarded to each winner.
- Gravity Wave for its initiative to reduce plastic pollution in the oceans, transforming plastics into durable products for the interior design and architecture industries, among others.
- Phytobatea for its project La Pisondera, which develops cutting-edge technology based on phytodepuration to create floating ecosystems that purify contaminated waters.
- Foundation Ecología y Desarrollo ECODES for its NUHSE initiative, offering personalized guidance to vulnerable homes to reduce energy bills and encourage responsible consumption habits.
During the final phase of their participation in the Future for all Awards, Foundation Cepsa will provide the winning entities with mentoring sessions as support, with expert guidance tailored to their needs to help them continue scaling the impact of their project.
About Foundation Cepsa
Foundation Cepsa is a general-interest nonprofit focused on being a transformative agent in the context of the ecological transition. The organization’s three strategic areas are People, to promote the general well-being of society; Biodiversity, through projects focused on caring for and restoring ecosystems, especially wetlands; and Social Innovation, to drive and propel transformation in the ecological transition.