Ceit spin-offs Inspectrail and Battia shine at the 2026 Toribio Echevarria Awards

Ceit spin-offs Inspectrail and Battia Recycling Technologies have been recognised at the 2026 Toribio Echevarria Awards, held at the Tekniker technology centre in Eibar. Inspectrail received the Innovative Company award, while Battia Recycling Technologies won awards in the Startups and Business Projects and Eibar Company categories.

The awards come with €12,000 in prize money and access to funding programmes, advisory services, support and training designed to promote the business growth of the winning projects.

Inspectrail, a Ceit spin-off established in 2023, has developed an integrated inspection system that captures, processes and displays information on the condition of railway infrastructure. Its platform provides infrastructure managers and operators with up-to-date data to plan maintenance activities, anticipate intervention needs and optimise network maintenance.

During the award ceremony, Pablo Burgos, the company's CEO, highlighted the importance of having reliable, continuous information to ensure the proper functioning of railway infrastructure. "We were founded with the mission of providing high-quality information on the condition of railway infrastructure in order to optimise its operation, management and maintenance," he said.

Inspectrail's solution addresses a growing need in the railway sector: digital tools that provide an accurate picture of infrastructure conditions and support decision-making on maintenance, safety and operations.

Another major recognition of the event went to Battia Recycling Technologies, a company established in 2025 by Ceit and Tekniker. The company is developing an intelligent battery recycling platform designed to preserve the value of battery components and recover critical materials from electric vehicles.

Its work addresses one of the main challenges associated with the transition to electric mobility: making better use of strategic resources contained in batteries at the end of their useful life and improving the efficiency of recycling processes. In doing so, it helps strengthen the circular economy and reduce European industry's dependence on critical materials.

The 2026 edition of the Toribio Echevarria Awards received a total of 44 applications. Following the evaluation process, the jury selected thirteen finalists: nine in the Startups and Business Projects category and four in the Innovative Company category.

The finalist proposals covered fields such as biotechnology and healthcare, artificial intelligence, sustainable industry, new technologies, technology applied to sport and the green transition. The jury placed particular emphasis on the business vision of the participating teams and their ability to turn knowledge and technology into new opportunities for economic and industrial development.

The awards received by Inspectrail and Battia highlight the potential of technology transfer to address strategic industrial challenges. Both companies demonstrate Ceit's ability to turn applied research into new business ventures that help improve infrastructure safety, promote the circular economy and strengthen industrial competitiveness.