OptiBreed stands out among the winning projects at ActúaUPM

The business model developed by Javier Fernández González, a PhD student at CBGP, received one of the 10 diplomas for business models with the greatest potential.

Javier Fernández González, PhD student from the ‘Genomics-assisted improvement’ group at CBGP with the diploma. / CBGP

Last Thursday, November 27th, the ActúaUPM awards ceremony was held. ActúaUPM is one of Spain's largest innovation and entrepreneurship competitions, boasting over 20 years of history, hundreds of startups created, and more than €260 million in investment raised.

Among this year's award-winning projects was OptiBreed, an entrepreneurial idea presented by Javier Fernández González, a doctoral candidate at CBGP. This idea received one of the 10 awards for business models with the greatest potential. OptiBreed focuses on a sector that has a significant impact on our lives but remains largely unknown: plant genetic improvement. This sector involves seed companies that carefully select superior crop varieties and sell them to farmers. Without this genetic improvement process, feeding the current population would be impossible.

OptiBreed began as an idea to market statistical software developed at CBGP that optimizes key steps in the improvement process. Throughout the ActúaUPM process, it has evolved into something broader and more scalable, including the development of new seed characterization techniques using imaging. The target clients would be the seed companies themselves, who could use OptiBreed's innovations to achieve faster and lower-cost genetic improvements. We mustn't forget all the people who made OptiBreed possible. First, the project's scientific foundation would not have been possible without the research and training carried out by the group led by Julio Isidro and Sánchez. Second, the ActúaUPM program itself, and more specifically Arístides Senra, the co-founder of ActúaUPM, have been key in refining the business model.