Gipuzkoa Provincial Council meets with Ayesa Digital to learn about NEUROQIA, a project combining AI and quantum computing in healthcare

NEUROQIA integrates clinical, genomic and environmental data to identify patterns and biomarkers that could pave the way for earlier diagnosis and personalised ALS treatments.

General Deputy Eider Mendoza visits the company’s facilities in Donostia, together with Deputy Unai Andueza and company executives.

The General Deputy of Gipuzkoa, Eider Mendoza, together with the Deputy for Economic Promotion and Strategic Projects, Unai Andueza, met today with the Ayesa Digital team to learn first-hand about NEUROQIA, a research project that combines artificial intelligence and quantum computing to advance the understanding, diagnosis and treatment of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). The working meeting was also attended by Iñigo Ucín, Chairman of Ayesa Digital; José Manuel Barrutia, Managing Director; Itziar Cuenca, Director of R&D; and Álvaro Fraile, Director of Cybersecurity. The meeting was followed by a tour of the company’s facilities.

During the meeting, the Ayesa Digital team explained how NEUROQIA integrates clinical, genomic and environmental information using artificial intelligence techniques to identify patterns and potential biomarkers that could improve the diagnosis and prognosis of ALS, particularly in small patient cohorts. The project also incorporates quantum computing techniques and hybrid models to analyse complex biomedical data and investigate the molecular mechanisms associated with the disease. This application of quantum technologies to biomedical research directly aligns with one of the strategic technology areas prioritised by the Gipuzkoa Provincial Council.

The meeting also provided an opportunity to gain a closer understanding of Ayesa Digital’s areas of activity and the challenges facing the company as it embarks on a new phase of growth this year.

A project supported by the Gipuzkoa Quantum programme

NEUROQIA has been developed within the framework of Gipuzkoa Quantum, the Gipuzkoa Provincial Council’s funding programme aimed at promoting R&D and the application of quantum technologies in strategic sectors. Since its launch in 2021 and through 2025, the programme has supported a total of 98 projects. In 2025 alone, 31 initiatives received support—twice as many as in the previous year—further consolidating the territory’s commitment to bringing quantum technologies closer to the business community. This line of action continues in 2026 with a budget of €1.5 million, aimed at accelerating the adoption of these technologies by companies in Gipuzkoa.

The programme seeks to strengthen the territory’s innovation ecosystem and foster new applications of quantum computing by promoting collaboration among companies, technology centres and knowledge institutions. NEUROQIA is an example of this commitment, bringing the potential of quantum technologies to bear on a specific challenge with significant social impact: ALS research.

The initiative also contributes to strengthening public-private collaboration and developing advanced technological capabilities in the territory, creating new opportunities for innovation and competitiveness across Gipuzkoa’s business community. According to Mendoza, Ayesa Digital can make an “enormous contribution” to this goal “thanks to the knowledge, people and capabilities it has built up over all these years”, making it a “leading company” in the technological transformation of Gipuzkoa’s industrial fabric.

For the General Deputy of Gipuzkoa, Eider Mendoza, “NEUROQIA is a good example of how collaboration can help translate the potential of emerging technologies such as quantum computing into real-world challenges facing our society”. In this regard, she highlighted that “the project brings together two strategic areas in which the Gipuzkoa Provincial Council is working as a priority: promoting quantum technologies and applying them to areas with significant social impact, such as healthcare”.

Mendoza also emphasised that “projects of this level of complexity and such high added value are being developed in Gipuzkoa, demonstrating the capacity of our territory, our companies and our knowledge ecosystem to generate advanced solutions with potential well beyond the territory”. She added: “Initiatives such as NEUROQIA enable us to develop our own technological capabilities while, at the same time, applying them to specific challenges, such as improving our understanding, diagnosis and treatment of a complex disease like ALS”.

For his part, Ayesa Digital Chairman Iñigo Ucín highlighted that “in addition to its scientific relevance, this project strengthens our leadership in the use of emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence, quantum computing and advanced data analytics applied to healthcare. It also reaffirms our commitment to applied research and public-private collaboration, while contributing to the development of advanced, ethical and patient-centred digital healthcare”.

NEUROQIA represents a commitment to applying advanced technologies to biomedical research and exploring new ways of analysing clinical, genomic and molecular information. Combining artificial intelligence and quantum computing makes it possible to address highly complex problems and open up new avenues of research into diseases that continue to present major challenges in diagnosis and treatment.

In the case of ALS, the project aims to contribute to a deeper understanding of the disease and lay the foundations for more accurate diagnoses and more personalised treatments, harnessing the potential of emerging technologies to address one of the major challenges in biomedical research.