Thanks to research and innovation, today we have more personalised treatments for serious diseases like cancer and the COVID-19 vaccines. The Science and Technology Section of the Institute for Catalan Studies (IEC) devoted its Science Thursdays conference yesterday to competitive innovation being done in Catalonia in the health arena.

The guest speakers were Judit Anido, CEO of CataloniaBio & HealthTech, the organisation that represents companies in the sector, and Laia Arnal, Business Development director at Vall d’Hebron Research Institute (VHIR).

The session kicked off with a welcome from IEC Science Section President Alícia Casals (co-founder of the spin-off Rob Surgical, which is developing a latest-generation surgical robot).

Then Judit Anido gave a snapshot of the powerful Catalan health sector and the role innovation plays. The model being used, and which should be further empowered in order to move up on European rankings, is to drive research of excellence from universities and public centres towards companies, which have the capacity to develop new products and services and bring them to society.

“Catalonia is one of the most dynamic regions in Europe in creating health companies. Of these, 25% are spin-offs, meaning they’ve come out of research centres. The University of Barcelona leads this ranking,” noted CataloniaBio & HealthTech CEO. In total, there are over 1,200 companies active in the sector in Catalonia.

Currently, “the health sector is so significant in innovation in Catalonia that we trail only the automotive sector in terms of GDP. You just have to look at all the companies that threw themselves into finding solutions during the pandemic, including emblematic ones like Grifols and Reig Jofre,” added Anido.

On top of the universities, research centres and companies, another key stakeholder for innovation is hospitals. Vall d’Hebron is one of the most dynamic in Catalonia and the impact of its research on the Catalan economy was €73.6 million in 2019.

“At a hospital, everyone takes part in innovation, even the patients,” explained Laia Arnal. “Innovation requires strategy, focus and a culture of entrepreneurship. Although it is a competitive activity, it is also highly collaborative,” she noted. The conference also gave a glimpse of what hospitals will be like in the future (don’t miss it!).

There is no question that the return on health innovation leads to greater intellectual, economic and social prosperity and that, in this time marked by the pandemic, “we want it to be the light that guides us through this darkness,” the two executives both concluded.

Watch the conference (in Catalan) again here: