Josep Solà co-founded Aktiia in 2018 with the vision to revolutionise blood pressure management and understanding globally. Today, Aktiia is a CE-marked platform operating in seven European markets, boasting over 90,000 active users. It is recognized as a medical device in 44 countries worldwide, with a team spanning Europe and the USA. 

Josep earned his degree in electrical engineering from the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC – BarcelonaTech), followed by doctoral studies at ETH Zürich (ETHZ). His thesis was titled ‘Continuous Non-Invasive Blood Pressure Estimation’. From 2004 to 2018, he spearheaded the development of advanced optical technologies for cardiovascular parameter monitoring at the Swiss technology innovation center, CSEM, with the mission to explore technologies with significant societal impact. In 2018, confident that optical blood pressure monitoring technology was ready for widespread use, he co-founded Aktiia. 

Throughout his career, Josep has published more than 100 academic papers, amassing over 2,200 citations and has filed 14 patents. His work has earned him numerous nominations and awards, including the prestigious Neode Prize for Best Swiss Innovation in Medical Technologies in 2017. He has also been featured in various publications, such as Forbes, TechCrunch, Paris Match, Medscape, PME and Bilan. 

Away from work, Josep is an avid hiker, skier and climber in the Alps, enjoys spending time with his family, and is a UIAGM certified mountaineering guide.

Top three publications 

• Doctoral thesis (2011). Continuous non-invasive blood pressure estimation, Ph.D thesis. ETH Zürich.
• Solà, J. & Delgado-Gonzalo, R. (ed) (2019), The Handbook of Cuffless Blood Pressure Monitoring: A Practical Guide for Clinicians, Researchers, and Engineers, Springer, ISBN 978-3-030-24701-0
• Solà, J. and co-workers (2024), Optimizing time-in-target-range assessment for blood pressure: insights from a large-scale study with continual cuffless monitoring, Front. Med., 11, 1396962.