Photo of Alfons Carnicero Carmona

Biotechnology & medicine

Alfons Carnicero Carmona

Breaking the barriers to mobility and independence that people with disabilities face every day

Year Honored
2022

Organization
ABLE Human Motion

Region
Europe

Alfons is a healthcare innovator from Barcelona, Spain passionate about how new technologies can break the barriers to mobility and independence that people with disability face every day.

He holds a Master’s in Industrial Engineering (Biomedical major) from Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC) and various entrepreneurship courses at the Business Schools of Cambridge Judge, EADA and ISDI.

Driven by a personal experience (his father had a stroke), Alfons started his professional career at Implantcast (German manufacturer of joint implants) and Institut Guttmann (neurorehabilitation hospital), where he discovered first-hand the daily reality of people with disabilities and identified unmet clinical needs.

In October 2018, he co-founded ABLE Human Motion: a start-up with the mission of enabling mobility for everyone, where he holds CEO responsibilities. Under Alfons’ leadership, ABLE has created a new generation of robotic exoskeletons that is light and accessible, crucial for widespread adoption. The technology has already been tested by +100 patients with spinal cord injury (who walked +150,000 steps), showing improved clinical outcomes and benefits in rehabilitation. The company is positioned among the most promising medical device start-ups in Europe, being recognized as the Best European Robotics Startup in 2020 and winner of the TOYOTA Startup Awards.