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Summary of results 2026

Results of the Call

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  • DATA 2026

    The CaixaImpulse Health Innovation Call 2026 has awarded a total of €3.96 million to 30 health innovation projects, including seven projects currently participating in the programme that applied to progress to a higher stage.

    Information on the CaixaImpulse Health Innovation Call 2026 and its results is presented below: the number of proposals submitted, pre-selected and selected projects by business area and project maturity, and the territorial distribution of the selected projects.

    CAIXAIMPULSE 2026 CALL

    Total budget

    € 3,957,683

    Number of proposals submitted

    449

    Number of eligible proposals

    449

    Number of projects pre-selected

    62*

    Number of projects selected

    23*

    Success rate

    5.1 %

    Table 1: General information of the CaixaImpulse Health Innovation Call 2026.

    *These figures do not include the additional projects currently in the programme that applied to move to higher stages through an evaluation checkpoint.

    Figure 1: Number of projects selected by territory and project stage

    Figure 1: Number of projects selected by territory and project stage.

    PROJECT PHASE

    PROPOSALS SUBMITTED

    PROJECTS PRE-SELECTED

    PROJECTS SELECTED

    Stage 1

    232

    30

    12.9 %

    15*

    6.5 %

    Stage 2

    193

    21

    10.8 %

    7

    3.6 %

    Stage 3

    24

    11

    45.8 %

    1

    4.2 %
     

    449

    62

    13.8 %

    23

    5.1 %

    Table 2: Success rate by project stage (*one stage 3 proposal was recommended by its evaluation panel to enter the programme as a stage 1 project).

    PROJECT PHASE

    APPLICATIONS FROM INTERNAL EVALUATION CHECKPOINT

    PROJECTS SELECTED

    Stage 2

    9

    5

    55.6 %

    Stage 3

    2

    2

    100 %

    Table 3: Success rate by project stage for applications currently in the programme and undergoing an internal checkpoint evaluation to progress to higher stages.

    PROJECT PHASE

    THERAPEUTIC

    MEDICAL TECHNOLOGY AND DIGITAL HEALTH

    TOTALS

    Stage 1

    8

    7*

    15

    Stage 2

    5

    7

    12

    Stage 3

    2

    1

    3
     

    15

    15

    30

    Table 4: Number of selected projects by business area and project stage (*one stage 3 proposal was recommended by its evaluation panel to enter the programme as a stage 1 project).

    PROJECT LEADER

    PROPOSALS SUBMITTED

    PROJECTS PRE-SELECTED*

    PROJECTS SELECTED*

    SUCCESS RATE*

    Women

    212

    27

    4

    1.9 %

    Men

    230

    34

    19

    8.3 %

    Others

    1

    0

    0

     

    Prefer not to say

    6

    1

    0

     
     

    449

    		  

    23

    		  

    Table 5: Success rate by gender.

    *The data include information on the proposals submitted to the 2026 Call. Of the projects progressing from previous stages, two are led by women.

Evaluation process

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  • REMOTE EVALUATION PHASE

    • Of the 449 proposals presented, zero were considered ineligible.

    • The proposals were evaluated by a total of 134 experts: at least three per project.

    • The proposals were assigned through a project and evaluator matching process, taking into account the business area, thematic areas and sub-areas, and the stage of the programme to which they were presented.

    • The final score for each project was adjusted based on two standardisation coefficients related to the mean and dispersion of scores for each evaluator.

    • There were two proposals with a discrepancy of more than 2.5 points which were evaluated by a fourth evaluator. The mean score was calculated taking into account the four standardised scores.

  • INTERVIEW PHASE

    73 projects advanced to the interview phase: The top 30 proposals from stage 1, the top 21 proposals from stage 2 and the top 11 from stage 3, according to the ranking established with the remote evaluation scores.

    During the interview phase, 9 projects from stage 1 applied to progress to stage 2, and another 2 from stage 2 applied to progress to stage 3.

    The interviews were evaluated by differentiated panels for each of the stages (1, 2 or 3) and the business areas of the projects (Therapeutic and MedTech/Digital Health). These panels were made up of four to eight experts selected for their depth of knowledge and area of expertise, in addition to a member from Criteria Bio Ventures.

    Of the selected proposals, it was proposed that one from stage 3 should enter the programme as stage 1, based on the recommendation of their respective evaluation panels.

    Finally, 30 proposals were funded by the ”la Caixa” Foundation.

  • LIST

Summary of selected projects

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CODE

TITLE

PROJECT LEADER

CENTRE

MODALITY

PARTNER INSTITUTIONS

PARTNER NAME

STAGE

BUSINESS AREA

CI26-10126

Innovative approach to treat Frontotemporal Dementia by eliminating pathological proteins.

Giuseppe Battaglia

Fundació Institut de Bioenginyera de Catalunya

Individual proposal

N/A

N/A

STAGE 1

Therapeutics

CI26-10149

Novel approach to targeting oncogenic mutations for cancer treatment.

Gonçalo Bernardes

Fundación del Sector Público Estatal Centro Nacional de Investigaciones Oncológicas Carlos III

Research Consortium

University of Cambridge
Fundação GIMM - Gulbenkian Institute for Molecular Medicine

Javier Bonet-Aleta
Cong Tang

STAGE 1

Therapeutics

CI26-10166

Metabolic Therapy for Mitochondrial DNA Maintenance Disorders

Ramon Martí

Fundació Hospital Universitari Vall d´Hebron - Institut de Recerca (VHIR)

Research Consortium

Universitat de Barcelona

Marçal Pastor Anglada

STAGE 1

Therapeutics

CI26-10215

Biocatalytic Hubs: Enabling Rapid and Accurate Precision Management of Phenylketonuria (PKU)

Tiago Cordeiro

Universidade Nova de Lisboa

Research Consortium

FARM-ID - Associação da Faculdade de Farmácia para a Investigação e Desenvolvimento

Paula Leandro

STAGE 1

Medical Devices

CI26-10257

A New Strategy to Fight Treatment-Resistant Cancer

Karmele Valencia

Fundación para la Investigación Médica Aplicada (FIMA/CIMA)

Individual proposal

N/A

N/A

STAGE 1

Therapeutics

CI26-10313

A New Strategy to Overcome Resistance to Cancer Treatment

Alfonso Calvo

Universidad de Navarra

Individual proposal

N/A

N/A

STAGE 1

Therapeutics

CI26-10395

DNA-Scaffolded Lateral Flow Assays: Enhancing the Accuracy of Strongyloidiasis Serological Diagnosis

Claudio Parolo

FURV-Fundació Universitat Rovira i Virgili

Research Consortium

Asociación Centro de Investigación Cooperativa en Biociencias-CIC bioGUNE
Institut de Salut Global de Barcelona (ISGlobal)

Gabriel Ortega
Jose Muñoz

STAGE 1

Medical Devices

CI26-10426

A Novel Hedgehog Signaling Inhibitor for Targeted Cancer Treatment

Josep Roma

Fundació Hospital Universitari Vall d´Hebron - Institut de Recerca (VHIR)

Individual proposal

N/A

N/A

STAGE 1

Therapeutics

CI26-10469

Advancing Newborn Screening for Rare Metabolic Disorders: Innovative Diagnostics for CACT Deficiency

Jose Luis Chiara

Agencia Estatal Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas, M.P.

Research Consortium

Fundación para la Investigación e Innovación Biosanitaria en el Principado de Asturias
Universidad del Pais Vasco (UPV/EHU)

Maria Dolores Chiara Romero
Virginia Martinez Martinez

STAGE 1

Diagnostics

CI26-10518

A Personalized 3D Approach to Prevent Diabetic Foot Ulcers

Raquel Leirós

Universidad de León

Research Consortium

Universidade da Coruña
Universidad de Extremadura

María Elena Arce
Jesús Manuel Rodríguez

STAGE 1

Medical Devices

CI26-10666

Correcting functional defects in pancreatic cells to treat diabetes.

Manuel Irimia

Universitat Pompeu Fabra (UPF)

Individual proposal

N/A

N/A

STAGE 1

Therapeutics

CI26-10680

LUPIN: Making Brain-Computer Interfaces More Reliable for Rehabilitation and Assistive Care

Nuno Garcia

FCiências.ID – Associação para a Investigação e Desenvolvimento de Ciências

Individual proposal

N/A

N/A

STAGE 1

Medical Devices

CI26-10681

Chondrogel: Rapid-Recovery Cartilage Repair for Improved Joint Health and Mobility.

Nuria Oliva

Universitat Ramon Llull

Individual proposal

N/A

N/A

STAGE 1

Medical Devices

CI26-10741

Turning the body's attackers into guardians: ToleriGen, a precision cell therapy for Multiple Sclerosis

Federico Fondelli

Fundació Institut d’Investigació en Ciencies de la Salut Germans Trias i Pujol (IGTP)

Individual proposal

N/A

N/A

STAGE 1

Therapeutics

CI26-10752

NEWTON Biotwins: Using Digital Twins to Make Cell Analysis Faster, Smarter, and More Reliable

Ángel Goñi

Agencia Estatal Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas, M.P.

Individual proposal

N/A

N/A

STAGE 1

Digital Health

CI26-20059

Low intensity focused ultrasound device to help spinal cord repair without surgery.

Pablo Villoslada

Fundació Institut Hospital del Mar d'Investigacions Mèdiques (IMIM)

Individual proposal

N/A

N/A

STAGE 2

Medical Devices

CI26-20062

Streamlined and affordable gene therapy manufacturing through advanced rAAV production platforms

Jose Miguel Escandell

Instituto de Biologia Experimental e Tecnológica

Individual proposal

N/A

N/A

STAGE 2

Therapeutics

CI26-20123

Advancing Aurkine Cancer Therapeutics toward First-in-Human Clinical Trials

Jesús Bañales

Asociación Instituto de Investigación Sanitaria Biogipuzkoa

Research Consortium

Universidad del Pais Vasco (UPV/EHU)
Fundación para la Investigación Biomédica del Hospital Gregorio Marañón
Fundación Instituto de Investigación Sanitaria of the Fundación Jiménez Díaz

Fernando Cossío
Aitana Calvo
Angela Lamarca

STAGE 2

Therapeutics

CI26-20264

A Next-Generation Switchable CAR-T Platform for Safer and More Effective Cancer Treatment.

Rafael Moreno

Fundació Institut d´Investigació Biomèdica de Bellvitge (IDIBELL)

Individual proposal

N/A

N/A

STAGE 2

Therapeutics

CI26-20295

FLASH -CARE. Improving Safety and Reliability in Advanced Cancer Treatment

Faustino Gómez

Universidad de Santiago de Compostela

Research Consortium

Institut Curie
Agencia Estatal Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas, M.P.

Sophie Heinrich
Consuelo Guardiola

STAGE 2

Medical Devices

CI26-20644

New approach to classify metastatic patients enabling personalized treatments.

Manuel Valiente

Fundación del Sector Público Estatal Centro Nacional de Investigaciones Oncológicas Carlos III

Individual proposal

N/A

N/A

STAGE 2

Diagnostics

CI26-20711

High-Sensitivity Liquid Biopsy for Detecting Homologous Recombination Deficiency in Cancer

ANA VIVANCOS

Fundació privada Institut Investigació Oncologica Vall Hebron (VHIO)

Individual proposal

N/A

N/A

STAGE 2

Diagnostics

CI26-2U034

Enhancing Taxol Effectiveness through Targeted Modulation of the Cancer Tubulin Code

Sonia Silva

i3S – Instituto de Investigação e Inovação em Saúde da Universidade do Porto - Associação

Research Consortium

Universidade do Porto

Fernanda Borges

STAGE 2

Therapeutics

CI26-2U063

Next-Generation Implants for Osteoarthritis and Joint Damage

MIGUEL GAMA

Universidade do Minho

Research Consortium

Universidade de Aveiro
i3S – Instituto de Investigação e Inovação em Saúde da Universidade do Porto - Associação
Universidade de Trás-os-Montes e Alto Douro

Florinda Mendes Costa Costa
Silvia Alexandra Rodrigues Mendes Ferreira
José Eduardo Pereira

STAGE 2

Medical Devices

CI26-2U074

Advancing Protection Against Klebsiella pneumoniae Infections through a Multiantigen DNA Vaccine

Mireia López

Universitat de Girona

Individual proposal

N/A

N/A

STAGE 2

Therapeutics

CI26-2U322

Innovative Approach for Non-Invasive Bladder Cancer Detection and Monitoring.

Raphaël Canadas

Universidade do Porto

Research Consortium

Instituto de Engenharia de Sistemas e Computadores, Tecnologia e Ciência - INESC TEC

Hélder Oliveira

STAGE 2

Diagnostics

CI26-2U369

Innovative Blood-Based Screening for Early Cancer Detection

Oscar Pozo

Fundació Institut Hospital del Mar d'Investigacions Mèdiques (IMIM)

Research Consortium

Fundació Institut d'Investigació Biomèdica de Girona Dr. Josep Trueta (IDIBGI)

Adelaida García

STAGE 2

Diagnostics

CI26-30269

A targeted cancer immunotherapy that boosts the immune response while reducing side effects

Pedro Berraondo

Fundación para la Investigación Médica Aplicada (FIMA/CIMA)

Individual proposal

N/A

N/A

STAGE 3

Therapeutics

CI26-3U433

Microbiome-derived metabolites for early detection of anal precancer

Sergio Serrano-Villar

Fundación para la Investigación Biomédica del Hospital Universitario Ramón y Cajal

Individual proposal

N/A

N/A

STAGE 3

Diagnostics

CI26-3U693

New molecules to combat aggressive cancers

Marcos Malumbres

Fundació privada Institut Investigació Oncologica Vall Hebron (VHIO)

Individual proposal

N/A

N/A

STAGE 3

Therapeutics