Honoring Young Entrepreneurs

The AIJEC (Association of Young Entrepreneurs of Catalonia) is a private organization, with a public, independent and non-profit vocation that has brought together thousands of young entrepreneurs under the age of 41 from all sectors since 1985 to share their concerns and experiences.

As part of their mission to support young Catalan business people, they offer an annual Young Business Person Prize (Premi Jove Empresari). Now in its 26^th edition, this annual event recognizes the hard work and perseverance of young people who are capable of generating employment and launching business projects. In an award ceremony that took place on 2 July, the AIJEC also awarded the Best Business Initiative Award (Millor Iniciativa Empresarial) to ICFO spin-off company QuSide Technologies.

QuSide, founded by ICFO alumnus Carlos Abellan, develops quantum technologies for the cyber-security and super-computation worlds, bringing unprecedented security and performance to the information era. The jury cited the relevance of QuSide’s strides to bring quantum technologies to market. They also noted the international recognition that the young company is attracting, explicitly highlighting Carlos’s inclusion in MIT’s list of Innovators Under 35 in Europe in 2018.