CEO of the Year Award: Leader in Investment for High-Impact Scientific and Technological Projects
Every CEO who leads a company with a transformative mission bears a great responsibility to ensure that mission is fulfilled every day and in its entirety. This is the case of Manuel Fuertes, CEO of Kiatt, a Spanish single-family office that manages its own wealth by focusing on various sectors of science and technology within the Venture Capital field. Since 2003, its mission has been to address society’s greatest challenges by investing in the brightest minds of our time, as well as the intellectual property they generate.
“My goal is to discover scientific and technological projects in which we can contribute the power of private capital, demonstrating that building a better society is highly profitable when driven by experience and knowledge,” says the CEO. “I have dedicated my entire career to promoting scientific research and its technological transfer to the market, always closely linked to the financial sector at the University of Oxford. I studied engineering, completed an MBA, and am a Fellow in Technology Transfer at the University of Oxford, which has allowed me to maintain a constant connection with the institution’s network of projects and investors. There, I founded Kiatt in 2003 to manage my own wealth as a way to organize, administer, and coordinate investments.”
Projects and Challenges
Coinciding with its 20th anniversary, the idea for the Kiatt Foundation was born in 2023, a project that will be launched this year. “This is a project I am personally passionate about, aiming to research, disseminate, and support conscious, responsible, and ethical investment in all areas of science that are transforming our society. We want to write a future where we use the most rigorous science to drive economic growth, with people at the center of everything as the greatest beneficiaries. We cannot talk about benefiting people if it does not impact human quality of life from a physical, mental, and spiritual perspective,” emphasizes Manuel Fuertes.
Beyond the Kiatt Foundation, another major challenge on the table is the Kiatt Earth Ventures project, which invests in science- and technology-based companies developing products that empower people to care for the environment while promoting economic growth and, as a primary goal, improving people’s quality of life. “I believe in the transformative power of private capital to drive visionary projects of great scientific, economic, and human significance. I take a deeply reflective approach when assuming the responsibility of investments that support scientific advancements directly impacting people’s lives. I am not satisfied with simply measuring the direct impact in the years following the investment; I feel responsible for considering other potential uses a scientific project we have financially supported may have. I firmly believe that the values of our family legacy must remain forever imprinted in the investments we make,” he declares.
For this philosophy that transcends business and seeks a better world, Manuel Fuertes received the CEO of the Year Award for Leadership in Investment for High-Impact Scientific and Technological Projects. “Receiving this award is a source of immense pride. On one hand, it highlights all the support we have received over the past two decades: from our employees, partners, collaborators, and the University of Oxford, where we were founded, which has believed in us for so many years. On the other hand, it demonstrates that sustainable, ethical, and values-driven investment is both possible and highly profitable. I hope we can continue to build a growing community in Spain with other family offices that are encouraged to invest in commercial science and ethical technology.”
Positivity and Humility
“I am characterized by humility when it comes to trying to understand the greatest minds of our time and their scientific projects; by a spirit of knowledge and innovation; by a global and strategic vision of how multiple technological or scientific sectors, which may appear disconnected, impact society and therefore investments; by a deep understanding of all the world’s research centers leading this change; and by an intense positivity when it comes to driving the change that our society needs to improve people’s quality of life in all its aspects,” explains the CEO.
