Support for internationalization

This is a Horizon Europe project that seeks to foster dialog and development towards a Europe with more inclusive, vibrant, diverse (in gender) and interconnected innovation ecosystems to achieve a common European data space in Health, helping to overcome the gap in the rollout of digital health in Europe and unleash the power of health data for the innovative medicine and healthcare of the future. Numerous activities associated with the presidencies of the Councils of the EU were conducted. They include:

• Organization of two panel discussions to analyze Catalonia's preparedness for the European Health Data Space in July.
• Participation in the Vitalis Conference in Sweden, where the EDAH consortium partnered with Novartis to organize a seminar on health data.
• Matchmaking event in Personalized Medicine and the challenge of using secondary data to create more personalized medicine, as well as how up-to-date the regional health systems are in the different European countries.  
• Presentation of the project to Commissioner Mariya Gabriel (DG RTD) and her cabinet, as one of the most important projects among those presented.
• Publication of case studies on the state of digital health and health data in Sweden and Bulgaria.

The objective of this Horizon Europe project is to increase interconnection among innovative European ecosystems and to reinforce dialog in the life sciences and health in order to boost their efficiency and capacity for innovation, with the focus on the twofold digital and sustainable transformation. 

In 2023, Biocat traveled to Brussels to present the project to Commissioner Mariya Gabriel (DG RTD) and her cabinet. A comparative study on different European health clusters, their map of stakeholders, their actions, and their future strategies was also published.

This is a Horizon Europe project that analyzes the financing mechanisms of health systems in the EU based on the management of funds and financing in order to assess the way they work to help find tools and strategies to make an efficient system in the future. 

Biocat participated in the project launch in Verona (IT) and the preparation of the working package it is leading on Innovation in Health.

Safe’nMedTech: This project is building an open-access platform to provide the most comprehensive range of services on the market of medical devices based on nanotechnology and their value chain. Coordinated by the CEBR. Biocat is a third party in charge of helping to recruit companies for the services offered on the platform. The project concluded in December 2023.

The Eatris-Plus project (funded through Horizon 2020) ended in 2023. It aimed to build more capacities and offer innovative scientific tools to ensure the long-term sustainability of the EATRIS infrastructure, which is crucial in developing personalized medicine in Europe. 

Within this project, Biocat organized a panel discussion on strategic infrastructures that strengthen the ecosystem during the presentation of the 2022 BioRegion Report (2/13/23).

This is a project in Europe’s Single Market Program which provides financial support and connections for small and medium companies in the medical technology and biologics manufacturing sector interested in boosting their resilience, sustainability and competitiveness. 

In 2023, a survey was conducted in the BioRegion to map the capacities and needs in biomanufacturing and medtech in Catalonia. A matchmaking tool was also implemented, and two focus groups were held on biomanufacturing and medtech with experts in the system in order to produce a report on the sector's needs. A call for vouchers for startups was also launched to boost their activity. The decision was announced in July 2023 to award €120,000 to five Catalan SME’s.

The BRIGHT project, led by Biocat within the European Union's COSME program, reached three milestones in 2023: i) analyzing and comparing the digital maturity of the sector in 5 European regions, and developing services to support them in their digital transformation; ii) conducting study visits to the 5 partner European ecosystems and transferring best practices; and iii) organizing and financing visits by clusters and companies from other European regions to Catalonia and connecting them with BioRegion stakeholders. Some of the BRIGHT activities in 2023 were: 

• Study visit about the digital health ecosystem in the UK in conjunction with the ACCIO UK office.
• Welcome and organization of an agenda for visitors from the BRIGHT consortium on the digital health ecosystem in Catalonia.
• Welcome and organization of an agenda for visitors from Ukraine and Romania on the digital health ecosystem in Catalonia.

Actions to forge alliances with the leading European and international players were also conducted in 2023:

CEBR and ECA

As part of the 2023 Annual Meeting, the Council of European BioRegions, a group that represents 44 organizations from all over Europe, chose the new executive board and the new president of the association. Montserrat Daban, director of Strategic Analysis and International Relations at Biocat and outgoing Vice-President of the CEBR, was elected as the new president of the board. The election was held during the Council's General Assembly in Stuttgart, Germany on May 15-17, 2023. 

HERA

Biocat actively participated in the meetings of the Industrial Cooperation Forum, the advisory body of HERA, and the European Commission's Health Emergency Preparedness and Response agency, an EC directorate general created after the pandemic which is in charge of the European strategy in three areas: challenges of the health industry and the European market; assessment of public health threats and storage of products and equipment, and research and development in medical counter-measures, including antimicrobial resistance. 

Pact for Skills

In September 2023, Biocat signed the European Commission’s Pact for Skills during the European Year of Skills. The goal of the pact is to gather public and private organizations and encourage them to take on specific commitments to improve skills and retrain adults. 

Biocat also signed a section of the Pact via EIT Health to establish a shared skills development model in Europe. This means two Biocat signatures with two directorates-general of the European Commission, which places it at the forefront of organizations working to boost talent within the EU. 
 

Events that position Biocat and the BioRegion as the prime cluster in Europe

• Biocat participated in different webinars in the “EU Clusters Talk” series: Relief for SME’s: How to Enhance Business, Funding Access, and Skills on January 11; Health in Europe, Where does our Ecosystem Stand? on February 8. 
• Participation in the panel discussion “Cosmic” Medicine and Biology – Life Sciences Clusters and Development Directions, at the “Clusters Meet Regions” conference in Krakow on December 11, 2023.
• Organization of the European Cluster Dialogues for Transformation, as part of the presentation of the BioRegion report, with 3 panel discussions and representatives of international clusters and the European Commission, on February 12, 2023. 
• Webinar on “Catalonia, a European Health Hub” co-organized with the Government of Catalonia Delegation in Germany, April 25.
• Participation in the meeting of the Steering Committee of the “Cámara Argentina de Biotecnología” (Argentine Biotech Chamber) with a presentation of the BioRegion on October 24, 2023.
• Representation of the European Clusters Alliance at the SME Assembly, organized by the Spanish presidency of the Council of the EU in Bilbao on November 13-15.
   

Thematic events on strategic areas for the BioRegion

• Participation in the panel discussion Health Technology and Digital Health organized by EIT Health as part of the IOTSWC conference in Barcelona in February 2. 
• Panel discussion Digital Transformation of Health Systems: Towards Health for All! In Tallinn, Estonia on March 6.
• Participation in the IPCEI Matchmaking Info Session organized by EIT Health and EIT Manufacturing in Brussels on March 13.
• Participation with a panel discussion and stand at the 2023 Vitalis Conference, the leading digital health gathering in the Scandinavian countries. Gothenburg, May 2023.
• Fast Track for Advanced Therapies sessions organized by ACCIO UK. Biocat supports the program and connects the participants with the BioRegion on May 11, 16, and 18.
• Participation in the official event unveiling the agenda of the Spanish presidency of the Council of the EU. Participation in the panel discussion “Contribución al liderazgo innovador” (Contribution to Innovative Leadership) organized by FECyT. Madrid, October 10. 
• Moderation of the panel discussion on Personalized Medicine organized by Micinn, FECyT, and CDTI as part of the Spanish presidency of the Council of the EU, October 6, 2023. 
   

Institutional events 

• Participation in the Government of Catalonia's mission to Sacramento, Los Angeles, and San Francisco to reinforce the Catalonia-California agreement. June 19-23, 2023.
• Participation in the “Medicines for Ukraine” event organized by UKDT, an invitation-only event to debate the needs and opportunities for collaboration. Barcelona, March 7, 2023,.
• Meeting with the USA and Canada ecosystems at the workshop organized by ACCIO at Pier01, March 27.
• Meeting with EC authorities and presentation of the EDAH and INNAXE projects to Commissioner Mariya Gabriel (DG RTD) and her cabinet. Session on Projects under the European Innovation Ecosystems Work Programme on Support of the New European Innovation Agenda, January 26.

• Annual HERA (Health Emergency Preparedness and Response Agency) conference as a member of the Joint Industrial Cooperation Forum on behalf of the Council of European BioRegions, Brussels, December 5, 2023.