CataloniaBio & HealthTech's 2023 agenda began with a CEO Council to reflect on the role of health in society and the economy. More than thirty CataloniaBio & HealthTech CEOs met at the cambraDigital HUB (Barcelona Chamber of Commerce) on 6 February to discuss this global vision of our ecosystem.
As always, the CEO Council had a special guest, in this case Antón Costas; Joan Puig, president of CataloniaBio & HealthTech, welcomed and introduced the guest. Costas is an industrial engineer and economist by training, and a professor of Economic Policy at the University of Barcelona. His curriculum vitae includes having been Endesa's Customer Ombudsman and later President of Endesa's Advisory Council in Catalonia, as well as being a chair of several companies. At the institutional level, he has been President of the Cercle d'Economia and was President of the Fundació Cercle d'Economia (2018-2021) until taking on the current role of President of the Consejo Económico y Social. His reflections gave rise to debate and reflection among the attendees.
Antón Costas proposed a vision of health not only from a social point of view and, specifically, of social justice, but also as an element in the growth and prosperity of a society. He proposes that health should begin to be seen in economics as an accounting element and not just as a cost. In this sense, he welcomes news of this change, such as the fact that the European Union has begun to include health variables in growth equations, as in the case of the PERTE regulation.
For Costas, changes in health must go hand in hand with a climate, a context, that favours them. For this reason, spoke of the theory of narrative as a proposed path for the reform of the health system, changes that focus on the context and needs, since "the political viability of a reform has a lot to do with the situation and the context of the moment".
On the importance of the narrative, Antón Costas reviewed the case of the Covid-19 pandemic as an example of the disparity in identifying priorities. After a brief review of the history and evolution of health systems, he ended by reflecting on the current situation and challenges such as who should be the new actors, who should have a voice, or how to confront dichotomies such as globalisation versus national production, or climate change versus production, business, and trade. Reflections that opened an interesting and extensive debate among the more than thirty attendees at this event promoted by CataloniaBio & HealthTech. This CEO Council was also attended by guests from the Barcelona Chamber of Commerce, as the event was organised jointly through the institution's Health Committee.
The next meeting of the CEO Council will be on 19 April, with Boi Ruiz as the guest speaker.
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