Kiur, Gradiant’s digital solution for treating complex wounds, receives 500,000€ from the ”la Caixa” Foundation
Kiur is a mobile application that guides healthcare professionals step by step to improve the care of difficult-to-heal wounds and speed up patient recovery.
The seed of Kiur is the ACE project, supported by the Ignicia Programme of the Regional Government of Galicia, through the Galician Innovation Agency, and developed and accelerated within Gradiant since 2023.
“La Caixa” Foundation has announced the results of the 2025 CaixaImpulse programme, through which it supports 31 biomedical projects from research centres, hospitals and universities in Spain and Portugal. In total, the organisation will allocate 3.8 million euros to this initiative, which aims to accelerate the market launch of these innovations to bring them closer to patients who may need them. CaixaImpulse also promotes the creation of new products, services and companies related to life sciences and health.
This year, two of the selected projects are from Vigo and are led by Óscar Pérez, from Gradiant, who is developing a new digital solution for treating difficult wounds, and by Mónica Martínez, from the Galician Public Foundation for Biomedical Research Galicia Sur, which promotes a treatment for advanced lung cancer using non-invasive blood tests
At Gradiant, Óscar Pérez and his team are developing a new digital solution that will help healthcare professionals treat difficult wounds. The project will receive 500,000€ from CaixaImpulse Innovation.
The digital solution Kiur features an easy-to-use application designed to help healthcare professionals provide better care to patients with hard-to-heal wounds. These wounds are common among older people and those with underlying health conditions. They often take many months to heal and can cause pain, discomfort, reduced mobility and feelings of isolation for both patients and their carers. Treating these wounds effectively is challenging due to the wide variety of treatments available and the fact that not all nursing staff have specialised training in wound care. As a result, patients sometimes receive treatments that are not tailored to their needs, which can slow healing and increase costs for health services.
The next step is to complete all the necessary processes to comply with health regulations and launch the product nationally, with plans to expand to other European countries. The team will continue to improve the application based on real user feedback, with the aim of establishing it as a trusted tool in hospitals and healthcare centres. This solution has the potential to improve the lives of many people by making wound care easier, faster and more effective for everyone involved.
The seed of Kiur is the ACE project, supported by the Ignicia Programme of the Regional Government of Galicia, through the Galician Innovation Agency, and developed and accelerated within Gradiant since 2023. In addition, the project is being carried out in partnership with José Manuel Rosendo, from the Galician Public Foundation for Biomedical Research Galicia Sur.
Another project selected by CaixaImpulse Innovation in Pontevedra, with a grant of 150,000€, is led by Mónica Martínez of the Galician Public Foundation for Biomedical Research in Southern Galicia. The project promotes a treatment for advanced lung cancer using non-invasive blood tests.
Understanding and treating advanced lung cancer remains one of the greatest challenges in modern medicine. Many people affected by this disease do not benefit from available therapies, and ways to predict who will respond well are limited. Traditional approaches often rely on obtaining a physical sample of the tumour, a process that can be painful, risky, and may not reflect the entire disease. These methods are also slow and expensive, delaying vital decisions for people with cancer.
This promising approach offers hope by making the process simpler, safer, and more reliable. Instead of having to remove part of the tumour, doctors can now use a small blood sample. This blood contains minute traces of the tumour, which provide crucial information about the disease. By carefully examining these traces, specialists can learn much more about each person’s particular situation and their likelihood of benefiting from the latest treatments. The goal is to ensure that each patient receives the most appropriate therapy, avoiding unnecessary treatments and their potential side effects.
With this blood test, doctors are no longer limited by methods that could overlook important changes in the disease. They can now monitor how the cancer is progressing in real time, enabling faster and more accurate treatment decisions. This would enable people with advanced lung cancer to receive more effective treatments earlier, suffer fewer side effects and, ultimately, improve both their quality of life and survival. This innovation has the potential to transform the care of thousands of patients, making treatment more personalised, less invasive and more hopeful for the future.
Results of the CaixaImpulse 2025 call for proposals
The winning projects—chosen from among 428 applications—were evaluated by six panels of international experts and professionals in this field. Among those selected this year are several projects that could transform cancer treatment: from non-invasive blood tests for advanced lung cancer to immunotherapies based on modified cells for aggressive childhood tumours. A new digital solution for the treatment of complex wounds has also been promoted, which will improve support for healthcare professionals. In women’s health, an innovative mesh for pelvic organ prolapse is presented, while in the field of genetic diseases, progress is being made towards safer RNA-based therapies and early detection of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.
By business area, 14 of the selected projects belong to the field of therapies. These are followed by projects related to medical devices, 12 of which stand out for their potential to improve healthcare. In the field of diagnostics, four proposals have been identified with the capacity to transform the early detection of diseases and, finally, one project focused on digital health.
In terms of funding, depending on the maturity of the project, the winners receive between 50,000€ and 500,000€ to develop it over the following years. In this call for proposals, 17 projects have been accepted into phase 1 (up to 50,000€), 11 into phase 2 (up to 150,000€) and 3 into phase 3 (up to 500,000€). The programme allows projects, once they have reached specific development milestones and following an assessment by the evaluation committee, to move on to subsequent phases with greater funding.
Training and expert support for projects
CaixaImpulse supports biomedical projects in the field of innovation and transfer by helping researchers validate their assets and define their exploitation and valorisation strategy to bring research results to market. In addition to financial support, they also have access to mentoring, consulting and support from international experts in different areas of the innovation ecosystem.
In addition, researchers leading projects in phase 2 will receive four weeks of specialised training on technology transfer, intellectual property legislation, presentations to investors and closing commercial agreements.
In the words of Paola Isetta, deputy director of the Grants, Research and Innovation Area at the ”la Caixa” Foundation, “the decision on the CaixaImpulse 2025 call for proposals reaffirms the Foundation’s commitment to innovation in biomedicine and health. Through an investment of 3.8 million euros, it is promoting the development of 31 projects in Spain and Portugal with the aim of accelerating their arrival on the market to improve patients’ quality of life. In addition to financial support, researchers receive mentoring and expert guidance to bring their innovations to market with greater solidity.”
The call for proposals is being carried out in collaboration with Criteria Bio Ventures, CriteriaCaixa’s venture capital fund specialising in biotechnology and health sciences. In Portugal, the call for proposals is being held in partnership with the Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT), part of the Portuguese Ministry of Science, Technology and Higher Education, which is subsidising two of the Portuguese projects selected in phase 1 in this edition.
”la Caixa” Foundation launched this programme to support innovation and transfer in biomedicine and health in 2015. Since then, the organisation has allocated 28.8 million euros to support 263 projects, which have led to the creation of 54 spin-offs, which in turn have obtained additional co-financing through other competitive calls or from private investors worth more than 180 million euros. These are some of the achievements of the first decade of CaixaImpulse, the call for grants for health innovation projects organised by the ”la Caixa” Foundation in collaboration with Criteria Bio Ventures.
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