The 12th edition brought together Catalonia's health ecosystem at the Gran Teatre del Liceu to celebrate innovation and the sector's collaborative spirit

"This is the Catalan ecosystem's celebration. A demonstration of its strength." With these words, Director General of Knowledge Transfer and Society, Javier Selva, opened an evening that once again highlighted everything Catalonia's health and life sciences community has built over the past two decades.

The Gran Teatre del Liceu hosted last Wednesday the 12th edition of La Nit de Catalonia.health, the sector's flagship annual gathering that brought together over 300 professionals, executives, and institutional representatives in a celebration of excellence, innovation and, above all, the collaborative spirit that defines the Catalan ecosystem.

Two awards, two perspectives on excellence

The evening culminated with two awards reflecting different but complementary dimensions of success: the Catalonia.health Award 2026 for Aortyx and the Lifetime Achievement Award for Jaume Amat i Riera.

Aortyx, a biomedical company born from research at IQS and Hospital Clínic, was honored for its ability to transform scientific excellence into globally competitive clinical innovation. The company is developing pioneering technology for treating aortic dissection based on an endovascular and biomimetic adhesive patch, with a minimally invasive approach that could change the treatment paradigm for this high-mortality condition.

In his deeply moving acceptance speech, co-founder and CEO Jordi Martorell shared three key lessons: "Hire people who surpass you, always. Leading Aortyx is a privilege. Every day you learn." He also thanked Ship2B for investing, the team "for having rowed and fought always," and emphasized the importance of caring for families and mental health: "We can't heal strangers if we don't care for our own families. Don't stop caring for them. And take care of ourselves."

Martorell closed with a call for collective responsibility: "We must be able to influence the Generalitat, Brussels. Catalonia.health is an association with incredible energy. You've grown it to fill the Liceu."

In recent months, Aortyx has closed a Series A round of €13.8 million, completed the design of its innovative catheters, and is advancing toward clinical trials, aiming for regulatory approvals in Europe, the United States, and Asia.

Jaume Amat: "I haven't done half the things I want to do yet"

The Lifetime Achievement Award recognized the career of Jaume Amat i Riera, who for over 25 years has been a key figure in building Catalonia's health ecosystem. Founder of Rob Surgical—a pioneer in surgical robotics with the Bitrack system—and CEO of Versa Biomedical, Amat has participated in founding teams of over ten companies, including Archivel Pharma, GoodGut (acquired by Hipra), and VCN Biosciences (now Theriva Biologics in the United States). He also served as President of Catalonia.health from 2017 to 2022.

In his speech, Amat highlighted "the jewel of this sector: the collaborative spirit we have. We share experiences and compete to be better." He also emphasized public-private collaboration as key to the ecosystem's success.

With humility and future vision, he stated: "This recognition is impressive. But the truth is I've dedicated half my life here and I still haven't done half the things I want to do." He announced that Rob Surgical will receive CE certification in a few days, a moment he described as "enjoying seeing that you've left a functioning structure, seeing the moment when it's good to let external expertise enter. The moment you see a company can fly on its own is beautiful."

He closed with a reflection on passion: "At Versa Biomedical, it's not just what we do that matters, but how we do it. The word 'amateur' means doing things with love. May we continue being amateurs and doing things with enthusiasm."

Retrospective look and future challenges

Before the awards ceremony, the roundtable "The evolution of health in Catalonia. Views of three leaders from their experience" brought together three former Catalonia.health awardees: Judit Anido (founder of Mosaic, current CSO of Iteria Biopharma), Carlos Buesa (founder and CEO of Oryzon Genomics), and Jordi Carrera (co-founder of Deepull), moderated by Mariona Serra, President of the organization.

When asked how we got here, Carlos Buesa highlighted "the Catalan factor, believing in it, this network, this strength and way of explaining ourselves abroad. The associative structure has this potential."

On future challenges, Judit Anido pointed to the need to "know how to design European policy where everyone is aligned" and "regulation that allows us to gain agility."

Regarding Catalonia.health's role, Anido emphasized that "it has been crucial in the ecosystem's growth phase, it was the piece of this network, the multiplier. Now it must be much more strategic, help the ecosystem align with the rest of Europe. And be the interlocutor."

Jordi Carrera added: "Do things on a large scale. Bring together Catalonia's territory to reach other European territories and align. Take advantage of having the forum and the responsibility."

Innovation and technological ecosystems

The day also featured a keynote lecture by Xavier Ferràs, professor at ESADE and one of the leading voices in innovation and business transformation, who shared his vision on health innovation and the challenges of technological ecosystems. Ferràs explained the origins of cluster policies in Catalonia in the 1990s and how these led to the first initiatives that gave rise to ACCIÓ and, later, to Catalonia.health and Biocat.

Institutional commitment

The closing was delivered by the Director General of Health Research and Innovation of the Department of Health, Antoni Plasència, who highlighted "this fabric that contributes to these successes" and emphasized the need to "make the macro level converge, which is moving at a speed we can't absorb, with the micro level, making things happen."

Plasència reminded that "we're here for the patients. Of 10,000 diseases, we have cures for less than 20%. We have a long way to go." He highlighted that the Generalitat is working on reforms such as the Cairós Committee to build "a health service that wants to be more predictive, preventive, personalized, and more planetary. At the service of people."

He closed by stating that "in Catalonia we have strategy, we have political commitment in a plan called Catalunya Lidera. We have capabilities: an ecosystem with strengths and individual and collective talent, with advanced knowledge areas, with talent in the form of data, at the gates of the European Health Data Space."

A community that shares more than competes

Mariona Serra, President of Catalonia.health, emphasized that "tonight has been a demonstration of the strength of Catalonia's health ecosystem and everything we've built together. We've recognized Aortyx's enormous merit, which demonstrates our actors' ability to compete globally, and we've honored with the award to Jaume Amat an immeasurable professional career that has decisively contributed to health innovation in Catalonia. Two different but equally inspiring achievements that reflect our ecosystem's strength to face the future with guarantees."

Over 12 editions, the Catalonia.health Award has honored companies such as Oxolife, WIVI Vision, AstraZeneca, Avinent, SpliceBio, IMIDomics, ONA Therapeutics, Kymos, Ysios Capital, Anaconda Biomed, Mind The Byte, Mosaic Biomedicals, STAT-Diagnostica (now Qiagen), Palobiofarma, Minoryx Therapeutics, and Oryzon Genomics.

La Nit de Catalonia.health 2026 was supported by Barcelona Peptides as main sponsor and in collaboration with ACCIÓ.