Cinfa signs an agreement with Ibercaja’s Más Empresa and launches an open innovation challenge on “ecopackaging”

Cinfa has become the new partner of Ibercaja’s Más Empresa and its foundation, in the form of an agreement to participate in the financial institution’s innovation ecosystem, which promotes collaboration between the two companies.

With this agreement, Cinfa, through its CinfaNext platform, has become the first company linked to the healthcare sector to become part of this innovation ecosystem. There are already 49 collaborating companies from Spain and abroad in the Más Empresa ecosystem, including startups, SMEs, professionals from large companies and entrepreneurs. The aim of this initiative is not only to take advantage of the synergies generated by this financial institution throughout Spain, but also to seek joint innovation solutions to the challenge faced.

This allows us to learn about different projects and open innovation channels, establish new partnerships with startups and entrepreneurs and, therefore, expand our usual channels of collaboration. Furthermore, in the words of Julio Sánchez, Head of Open Innovation at Cinfa, “thanks to our extensive presence in the market, we can help startups and entrepreneurs in the sector to get a footing, by driving, accelerating or mentoring projects”.

CinfaNext’s first “ecopackaging” challenge

Cinfa’s first activity as a member of the ecosystem was the launch of an open innovation challenge via the Más Empresa platform, the aim of which is to seek sustainability improvements in medicine packaging (blister packs, boxes, sachets, etc.), maintaining the quality, safety and conservation conditions required in each case. The challenge has a €6000 economic endowment for the winning proposal, as well as the possibility to codevelop the project with Cinfa.

This project is “really necessary, given the growing environmental challenges, but at the same time very ambitious, as the pharmaceutical sector has very strict quality and safety standards, and packaging solutions must meet a long series of requirements that guarantee that the conservation conditions of pharmaceuticals are appropriate,” says Julio Sánchez.

In short, at CinfaNext, our aim is to identify and reward talent that is capable of carrying out joint developments with our innovation team, following agile methodologies to complement one another.

The deadline for submitting projects was 16 September. The projects and proposals received are currently being evaluated in order to choose the winner of the challenge, which will be announced shortly.

Interested in learning more about the Más Empresa ecosystem?

Promoted by Ibercaja and Fundación Ibercaja, the Más Empresa ecosystem was created in 2018 with the aim of promoting the dissemination of knowledge, transforming business culture and boosting the incorporation of innovation as the transforming axis of projects, companies and people.

It is supported by a think tank of experts and six key opinion leaders (KOLs) representing each of the verticals on which it is based: innovation, digitalisation, entrepreneurship, cultural transformation, diversity and sustainability.