The Influentials Awards will celebrate on November 30 at 7:00 p.m. what is, so far, its most special edition. And it will be for several reasons, among which the fact of coinciding with the twentieth anniversary of El Confidencial, organizer of the event in collaboration with Herbert Smith Freehills, stands out. On this occasion, and due to the pandemic, the appointment has had to be postponed for several months in order to be officiated in a safe environment. Both the space chosen to develop the event and the guests and winners make the wait worthwhile.

This fourth gala will take place in the Nouvel Auditorium of the Reina Sofía Museum, located at number two in the Atocha ring road in Madrid, and the master of ceremonies will be the actress and presenter Cayetana Guillén Cuervo. In addition to having the presence of Nacho Cardero, director of El Confidencial, and Miguel Riaño, managing partner of Herbert Smith Freehills Spain, the person in charge of closing the meeting will be Félix Bolaños, Minister of the Presidency, Relations with the Courts and Democratic Memory of the Government from Spain.

The awards, which have become a national benchmark in recent years, as demonstrated by the attendance of senior representatives of the different executives —Nadia Calviño, in 2020; José Luis Ábalos, in 2019; Soraya Sáenz de Santamaría, in 2018—, recognize on this occasion the work and dedication of key personalities and institutions of the last two decades. It is an award for a 20-year career, as many as El Confidencial has completed. The protagonists of the recent history of our country who will go up to the lectern to receive their award are the writer Javier Cercas (in the Culture category), Mireia Belmonte (Sports), Isidro Fainé (Businessman), María Blasco (Science and Health), the Higher Center for Scientific Research, CSIC (Innovation), the Military Emergency Unit, UME (Social Impact), and Javier Goyeneche (Environment).

Witness of two decades of transformation

In the last 20 years, El Confidencial has established itself as a model to follow in economic and financial information, but also in matters of political news. Thus, the digital newspaper has demonstrated its commitment to journalistic independence by actively participating in the construction of Spanish society. Along these lines, the Influentials Awards serve to embody its values ​​and principles, while celebrating the talent and commitment of those who project the Spain brand and contribute to improving people's lives from different fields and activities.

Up to now, figures from the first Spanish political, business, social and sports line have received these awards. Among the winners on the list in recent years are personalities such as chef José Andrés —recent winner of the Princess of Asturias Award for Concord—, racing car driver Carlos Sainz, soccer coach and champion of the world Vicente del Bosque or the international actor Antonio Banderas. In the same way, different private companies, organizations and institutions of all kinds have received recognition, such as Cáritas, Iberia, Cabify or Banco Santander.

Winners of the Influentials Awards 2021

Award in the Entrepreneur category: Isidro Fainé

Isidro Fainé, son of a family of farmers, has become a living history of the Spanish financial system. First, because of the longevity of his professional career, more than half a century working in the banking business, most of it under the star of La Caixa. And second, because of the legacy of his career, culminating in the consolidation of the old Barcelona pension fund, of which he was the head of the board for almost 20 years, as the first entity.

All that glory as an executive fades into the background as soon as Fainé has the opportunity to talk about the la Caixa Foundation, which he truly considers his great work, an exceptional social legacy whose guarantor is the business and financial project articulated around Criteria. Nothing motivates this veteran boy from Manresa, to whom we attribute an extraordinary influence, more than keeping alive and multiplying the founding purpose of this centenary project.

The figure of the winner transcends the 20 years of this increasingly young editorial project. However, El Confidencial has been a privileged narrator and witness of his consecration as patron saint of finance. Its role is key to understanding the evolution and transformation of a determining sector for the economic development of the country. For all these reasons, his work has gone much further than Francesc Moragas ever imagined at the beginning of the 20th century.

Award in the Culture category: Javier Cercas

On January 1, 2001, few in Spain read Javier Cercas. On December 31st it would be almost impossible to find someone who hadn't. It was in March of that year when a writer born in Ibahernando, Cáceres, in 1962, and living in Girona since he was four years old, managed to escape a creative crisis in the only possible way: by bursting the Spanish publishing market with 'Soldados de Salamina' , the novel that would go on to sell more than a million copies and which was adapted for film by David Trueba in 2003.

Trueba would later recount, amused, that the unexpected and ghostly protagonist of that book that unraveled in a fascinating game between reality and fiction, the old Miralles who 70 years before saved the life of Rafael Sánchez Mazas, had saved also the race to the edge of the abyss of one of the greatest Spanish writers of the last half century, warper of overflowing novels that sometimes seem like essays and hypnotic essays that sometimes resemble novels like 'The speed of light', ' Anatomy of an instant, 'The laws of the border', 'The impostor' or 'The monarch of the shadows'.

He is one of those rare authors who have discovered alchemy, elusive to so many, capable of fostering the best literature and sales records

Cercas is one of those rare authors who have discovered the alchemy so elusive that it is capable of promoting the best literature and record sales figures. The last proof in this regard was his victory in the 2019 Planeta prize with 'Terra Alta', a title in which he gave a fierce and highly celebrated turn to his career with a police saga starring the 'mosso' Melchor Marín who has recently delivered in bookstores a second installment, 'Independence'. On this occasion, the plot dared to travel to the immediate future, in the mid-twenties of this 21st century in a Catalonia in which, although calm has not ended up settling in, the 'procés' and the coronavirus do seem historical episodes overcome as one overcomes the tragedies of destiny. Or bad hangovers.

Writer, columnist, progressive critic and refractory to common places, incorruptible activist of rationality and creative autonomy, Javier Cercas has achieved something even more difficult than treasuring all this series of golden qualities: introducing one —or several! — of his books in the homes of all Spaniards. Tell us, please, a major influence.

Award in the Sports category: Mireia Belmonte

To speak of Mireia Belmonte is to speak of a living legend of Spanish and world sports. At 31 years old, she can boast of being one of the most prolific swimmers of all time and a mirror in which many young women who are starting out in the pool world can look at themselves. With humility, effort and a lot of sacrifice, the Spaniard has managed to mark an era, since seeing Mireia compete is synonymous with sporting success: it is not easy to have the favorite band in each competition, but the Spaniard has earned it with an unbeatable career and a glittering track record.

But what is his secret? Very simple: take care of yourself, train hard and compete, compete and compete. If something characterizes the woman from Badalona, ​​it is that she is a born fighter, she never gives up, she always fights and empties herself in the pool. Swimming is a complex sport, which requires arriving at the competitions in the best shape so as not to be blurred by rivals, but Mireia has something difficult to quantify. Even coming to events at a bad time due to injuries, he always shows his face.

It is difficult to find an athlete with a gene as competitive as that of the Spanish woman, which serves as a reference

His numerous successes confirm that the category of myth is too small for him. Throughout her already long career, she has won six World Cup medals, 10 in short course World Championships, 13 in Europeans, 11 in short course Europeans and four in the Olympic Games. Mireia Belmonte is a pool legend, always ready to improve, to surpass herself and give her all. It is difficult to find an athlete with a gene as competitive as that of the Spanish woman, which serves as a reference: never giving up, no matter what, is a fundamental part of her success.

The Spanish swimmer has a career full of successes, to which she put the finishing touch at the Tokyo Olympics. She did not get the long-awaited medal —she was just a few tenths away—, but she had the honor of being the standard bearer of the Spanish delegation together with Saúl Craviotto, something only within the reach of the chosen ones. If you look closely, her look says it all: she is that of a winner who never gives up and is always willing to fight for more. A myth of Spanish sport. A mirror for any young person who wants to reach the top.

Award in the category of Science and Health: María Blasco

María Blasco has earned her place in the pantheon of great scientists that Spain has given on her own merits. Her name already appears from her along with others as illustrious as that of the biochemist Margarita Salas, who was precisely the director of her doctoral thesis at the Autonomous University of Madrid.

That was an intermediate step in a career that began as a biologist in Valencia and continued with a prolific apprenticeship period at the Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (New York, United States), where Blasco definitively oriented herself towards the study of basics. biological and molecular cancer. Her great specialty as her scientist has been telomeres, the ends of chromosomes, and the influence that these, regulated by the telomerase enzyme, have on the development and possible treatment of oncological pathologies.

Almost 20 years ago, she made the great leap from the National Biotechnology Center to her home, the National Cancer Research Center, then directed by Mariano Barbacid and which Blasco herself ended up directing a decade ago now. Internationally respected, not only as a researcher but also as an inspiration for the role of women in science, Blasco has spent years accumulating awards in her enviable curriculum, including the Santiago Ramón y Cajal National Research Award or the Rey Jaime I Award for Research. basic. A very long list to which this Influentials Award in Science and Health now joins.

Award in the Innovation category: CSIC

It is the largest science entity in Spain and the seventh public research institution in the world. Its logo, a pomegranate tree inspired by Ramon Llull's 'The Tree of Knowledge', is a perfect metaphor to represent it: many branches nourished by the same sap. The Higher Council for Scientific Research (CSIC) is a state agency that brings together 120 centers spread across all the autonomous communities, where more than 12,000 people work, publishing 14,000 articles a year. Of course, the fruits of the tree are knowledge, but they feed the technological development and innovation of the entire country. In short, they have a notable economic and social impact in a world dominated by R+D+i.

The CSIC leads international patent applications in Spain, with 72 applications in 2020, according to the European Patent Office (EPO), a number that has skyrocketed in the midst of a pandemic, since in 2019 there were 34. In recent years, this state agency has launched amazing innovations in all fields. For example, a technology that recycles fiberglass for use in wind turbines, a device that detects meningitis in babies in three seconds, a system to improve the efficiency of sensors distributed in fiber optics, or a method to produce a powerful antioxidant from olive oil.

The CSIC leads the international patent applications in Spain, with 72 in 2020, a number that has skyrocketed in the middle of the pandemic

To reach the market, these innovations need the impulse of the business sector, so the CSIC has also embarked in recent years on the launch of technology-based companies. Among the most recent projects, a company that develops financial risk analysis using quantum computing, but without the need for quantum computers, stands out; another that immediately predicts the evolution of marine discharges to reduce their environmental impact, or another that revalues ​​plant by-products to complement food products and favor the circular economy.

Facing the great challenges of our time, from health to climate change, and developing a modern economy, based on knowledge, would be impossible without the support of science and the search for applications. No entity is in a better position to lead this innovation throughout Spain and in all branches of knowledge.

Award in the Social Impact category: UME

The Military Emergency Unit has a very favorable image among Spanish citizens who, without a doubt, positively value its capacity to respond to catastrophes and natural disasters. Created in 2005, the UME has participated in more than 600 interventions in different areas with serious risks and public needs, including abroad, always supporting civil authorities that require their help. Precisely, their recent work in the volcanic eruption of La Palma is a clear example of the activity carried out by the UME in its interventions, where they help farmers to irrigate, put out the fires that cause the lava flows, warn the population of the risks Associated with the state of the air, they evacuate potentially dangerous areas and clean the areas most affected by ash.

Despite not carrying out preventive tasks, one of the main characteristics of the UME is that its troops always work acting under the unit to which they belong and directed, therefore, by their own control panels. In addition, their specific preparation makes them a true elite body in terms of landslides after earthquakes, technological risks, forest fires, heavy snowfalls or floods.

Award in the Environment category: Javier Goyeneche

Founder of the successful sustainable fashion brand Ecoalf, Javier Goyeneche has unwittingly become a model entrepreneur who has a lot of appeal in our country. And it is that, in these times, turning waste such as coffee grounds, tires or fishing nets into clothing is synonymous with perfectly understanding where the market is going. However, his environmental commitment goes far beyond economic profitability, since when his children were born he understood the need to bequeath a better world to subsequent generations. Today, Ecoalf prioritizes environmental protection over business decisions, paving the way for what should be the future of Spanish companies.

Entrepreneur by nature, his activity in the business world began in the early 1990s, when he was barely 20 years old. After business adventures like Loco Pins and, later, the successful Fun & Basics, was awarded in 2007 by the Association of Young Entrepreneurs of Madrid, recognizing his talent and capacity for innovation.

His audacity and determination have led this businessman from Madrid to reinvent himself over and over again with the aim of perfecting his vision of the market, until he conceived Ecoalf, the company that has revolutionized the sector thanks to a firm commitment to sustainability and environmental defense.