The President of the Government of Catalonia, Pere Aragonès, stressed this morning, in his speech at Biospain 2023, that “Catalonia has become one of the most dynamic biotechnology clusters with the greatest potential in Europe”. And he claimed that this sector will also “be one of the major drivers of social progress and innovation internationally”.

A clear example of the potential of biomedicine, as stated by the head of the Executive, is that “we are breaking records in foreign investment” with the investments from Novartis, Boehringer Ingelheim, Roche, or Teladoc, and “the opening of large-scale international projects” such as the new European research and development centre by the biopharmaceutical company Alexion Pharmaceuticals and AstraZeneca. “These investments are just one example because, in fact, 52% of the most important companies in the sector are already based here, in Catalonia,” he emphasised.

In this regard, in his speech, the President also highlighted the fact that in the latest state call for aid for the development of advanced therapies, CERTERA, announced yesterday, “27.3 million euros of the 43 that have been granted have been allocated to projects in Catalonia”.A figure that represents 63% of the total.

“The Government is promoting and supporting the biotech sector as a strategic sector for the country as a whole, with all the tools at our disposal and with the utmost ambition,” Aragonès declared.

A support that the Executive is offering by promoting regulations that facilitate innovation and knowledge, such as the Science Act and the National Pact for Industry. Also by “hosting leading-edge infrastructure”, such as the Mare Nostrum 5 supercomputer or the Alba synchrotron, and “creating large pioneering research and development structures, such as the advanced therapies hub”.

Aragonès also referred to the economic importance of the biomedicine sector, as it “currently represents 8.7% of the country’s GDP and 7% of employment, providing high-quality jobs”, as documented in the Catalonia Bioregion 2022 report by Biocat.

Biospain, the leading international biotech event, will end its eleventh edition in Barcelona today with a record number of participants: more than 2,100 people from the sector from 975 organisations from 30 countries have taken part, a figure higher than initially expected.

The Barcelona edition is now the largest in the event’s history, both in terms of the number of attendees, entities, exhibitors, international representation, and the number of investors. It is worth highlighting the Catalan delegation among these participants, with more than 300 companies from the BioRegion of Catalonia.