Around 90 Catalan firms and organizations attend Biospain 2016
<p>The trade fair, held in Bilbao from 28 to 30 September, was attended by 700 organizations, 1,500 delegates from 28 countries around the world and hosted 220 exhibitors</p>
Around 90 Catalan firms and organizations participated in Biospain 2016, the biggest biotechnology event organized by a national bioindustry association in Europe and one of the world’s largest in terms of one-to-one meetings.
More than 1,500 delegates from 28 countries and 700 firms and organizations attended the fair, which also had a strong international presence with 33% of attendees coming from the United States, Israel, Japan and Brazil.
The Catalan delegation in attendance was made up of by pharmaceutical firms Almirall, Esteve, Ferrer and Grífols; biotechnology firms Aelix Therapeutics, Inkemia, Spherium Biomed, Oryzon Genomics and Minoryx Therapeutics; investors Caixa Capital Risc, Capital Cell and Ysios; research centers including the Centre for Genomic Regulation (CRG), Institute for Research in Biomedicine (IRB), Bellvitge Biomedical Research Institute (IDIBELL) and Vall d’Hebron Research Institute (VHIR); and hospitals Hospital Clínic and Hospital de Sant Joan de Déu, among others.
This year’s edition of Biospain hosted 220 exhibitors. The BioRegion of Catalonia had its own pavilion, coordinated by Biocat, with the notable presence of Iproteos, Mind the Byte, Ability Pharma, Enantia and Specipig.
The Massachusetts model
Within the program of talks held at Biospain 2016, Biocat’s CEO, Albert Barberà, took part in the talk “Massachusetts’ and Spain’s health ecosystems learning from each other”, together with Robert Ramos, senior marketing coordinator of the Massachusetts Life Sciences Center in the United States; the CEO of ASEBIO, Ion Arocena; and the strategic initiative manager of the Basque Business Development Agency (SPRI), Amaia Martínez. The talks were moderated by the executive director of the Richi Foundation in the United States, Ernest Lara.
From the talks, the main representatives of the organizations responsible for health promotion in Massachusetts, Spain, the Basque Country and Catalonia were able to confirm that the Massachusetts ecosystem is the most dynamic health and life sciences environment in the world. In addition, they discussed best practices for making the most of local resources (talent, capital, technology and networks). They also shared their opinions on how to accelerate their growth and strengthen the innovation bridge between Spain and Massachusetts.
d·Health at the Training and Employment Forum
Biocat was also present at the 3rd Training and Employment Forum hosted by Biospain. Attendees were able to learn about the Design Health Barcelona (d·Health Barcelona) program, the first Master’s degree in biodesign to be taught in our country and which promotes innovation in healthcare, entrepreneurship and professional development in the biomedical field. More than 300 people have visited this space.