UPV researcher Jordi Linares receives the Unstoppable Award for Innovation in Patients

Jordi Linares Pellicer, a researcher at the Valencian Research Institute for Artificial Intelligence (VRAIN) at the Universitat Politècnica de València, has received the Unstoppable Award for Innovation in Patients from the pharmaceutical company Italfarmaco. His project to create a personalised voice, entirely altruistic, through artificial intelligence preserves the voices of people with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). It respects vocal dynamics by incorporating emotional modulations, developing an adaptive model for Fran Vivó.

This award was presented at the 4th edition of the Unstoppable Awards, which recognises eight projects in different fields. These awards aim to identify projects that are transforming the future of healthcare in Spain, whose primary driving force is to improve patients' quality of life and promote a more humane, predictive, and efficient healthcare system.

The ceremony, held at the Italian Embassy in Spain, brought together researchers, healthcare professionals, institutional representatives and leaders from the scientific and technological fields. Among those in attendance were the Italian Ambassador to Spain, Giuseppe Buccino Grimaldi; the CEO and Vice President of Italfarmaco, Álvaro Acebrón; and the Managing Director of Italfarmaco Spain, Santiago Carolá.

The voice is identity, dignity and connection.

The work developed by UPV VRAIN researcher Jordi Linares and his VertexLit research group, together with the ValgrAI foundation, exemplifies the humanisation of artificial intelligence. It also highlights how the voice embodies identity, dignity and connection, having succeeded in reconstructing even Fran Vivó's native language, the Valencian spoken in Benaguassil. This breakthrough has made it possible to replace the robotic, mechanical voice that the patient and his family had to use due to his ALS condition with a more humanised voice that matches the patient's vocal tone.

This award represents 'how artificial intelligence, and ultimately technology, must always advance hand in hand with ethics and put people at the centre of progress. Artificial intelligence should achieve greater efficiency, fairness and, above all, humanity in the healthcare system, and this award reminds us that science is not only technical, but also humanising,' explains UPV VRAIN researcher Jordi Linares.

The winners of these awards received the Italian GRAZIE coin, minted by the Italian Ministry of Economy as a tribute to healthcare professionals during the pandemic, which has become a symbol of gratitude, memory and respect.

The other winners were: Alfonso Valencia in the category of Innovation in Digital Health, Juan Fernando Muñoz Montalvo in Innovation in Rare Diseases, María Ángeles de la Torre in Innovation in Humanisation, Francisco Fernández Oliveros in Young Innovator, Jorge Méndez in Innovation in Technology Applied to Clinical Practice, and Ricardo Martino Alba in Innovation in Paediatrics.