Women'secret, Mendelian and New Food are honored for the most innovative initiatives of the year

Things that matter. That’s the motto of an initiative spearheaded by the women's fashion firm Women'secret, belonging to the Tendam group (formerly Cortefiel), and the Dexeus Mujer health center, specialized in gynecological and breast oncology. Together they launched in 2017 a postoperative bra, a new design that’s part the Post-Surgery Bras collection, an underwear line developed in 2013 for women who have undergone a mastectomy. The initiative has won the Cinco Días Award for Business Innovation in the category of social responsibility

The goal of this collection, says Women'secret marketing director Anna Aubert "is to highlight a sad social reality that unfortunately affects more and more women, even if, fortunately, breast cancer is increasingly being beaten." The aim of the collection is to normalize the day-to-day of patients who have gone through surgery and offer them emotional support. In addition, the proceeds from the sale of the Post-Surgery Bras go towards offering free fertility treatment for women affected by cancer, through the Dexeus Women Foundation.

This is just one of the initiatives to be honored at the 11th annual Cinco Días Awards for Business Innovation. A total of 65 projects were considered for this year’s awards, which are sponsored by La Caixa and Repsol. The awards gala takes place on July 5 at the Repsol auditorium in Madrid

 The most innovative business initiative in the field of new technologies has gone to Mendelian, sponsored by Pfizer, and which aims to accelerate the diagnosis of rare diseases, thereby avoiding the odyssey that means an average wait of seven years without a diagnosis. This is achieved thanks to a global mapping of these types of pathologies through big data and artificial intelligence. "It is a support tool that improves the health and lives of patients," explained Sergio Rodriguez, Country Manager of Pfizer Spain, adding that one of the objectives of the laboratory is to support and foster startups with initiatives that have a real impact on patients, “who often need not so much financial support as having a greater voice when it comes to interacting with healthcare professionals."

The award for the most innovative initiative linked to a university has gone to New Food Development, a company linked to the University of Zaragoza, whose mission, explained Marta Moniente, focuses on researching, developing and innovating food products that solve the current needs of society, such as healthy, functional foods that are suitable for those with special needs or with specific nutritional preferences, that are ready to consume, and that are innovative and respectful to the environment. A team of 50 researchers from the university – and at the cutting edge of food science – designs and prepares food prototypes to meet the specific demands of the market.

The jury was composed of: Elena Gómez Pozuelo, president of Womenalia; the economist José Carlos Díez; Jorge Rivera, communications director of Grupo PRISA; Inés Juste, Chair of Grupo Juste; Rosa García, Chair of Siemens; Efrén Miranda, President of the entrepreneurs’ organization Club del Emprendimiento: Javier Moreno, who heads El País América; and Ricardo de Querol, editor-in-chief of Cinco Días.