On 22 October, an institutional delegation from Gyeongsangbuk-do, one of the leading regions in biotechnology and biomedicine in South Korea, visited Catalonia.health to learn about the Catalan health ecosystem and explore avenues for collaboration in research and technological cooperation.

The delegation was made up of representatives of the provincial government, the Andong City Government, the Gyeongbuk Institute for Bio Industry (GIB) and the K-Bio Pharmaceutical CMO Center. It arrived after visiting Fraunhofer centres in Germany and, earlier that same morning, Fraunhofer Spain and Fraunhofer CAT, guided by their trustees, Peter Hautmann and Prof. Heiko Zimmermann.

The managing director of Catalonia.health, Laura Iglesias, presented the Catalan ecosystem to them, along with the association’s role as a connecting force. The delegation then visited the facilities of two of our members at the Barcelona Science Park, NoctuRNA and Olobion.

Gyeongsangbuk-do is one of the major emerging hubs of South Korean biotechnology, with ecosystems specialising in biopharmaceuticals, vaccines and regenerative medicine, as well as a special flexible-regulation zone for cell-cultivated food.

Visits like this one strengthen the international profile of the Catalan ecosystem and open the door to new collaborations between our members and health stakeholders from around the world.