On 21 October, Catalonia.health took part in the 5th session of the Community of R&D&I Knowledge Transfer Networks, an institutional event organised by the Department of Research and Universities of the Government of Catalonia. Our managing director, Laura Iglesias, and our project coordinator, Roser Alba, attended alongside the other clusters accredited by ACCIÓ and the R&D&I networks.

This edition had a clear focus: the synergy between networks and clusters. Networks contribute scientific and technological knowledge, while clusters have first-hand knowledge of market opportunities. Getting them to work together is one of the most direct ways of accelerating knowledge transfer.

Department officials highlighted this complementarity and recalled the thirty-year track record of clusters in structuring value chains. The session also presented three support instruments: Industrial Doctorates, the PILOT programme, which brings proofs of concept closer to the market, and financing from ICF Capital Risc.

In the working sessions, participants identified collaboration opportunities and addressed sector-specific and cross-cutting challenges, such as funding and talent. In the health block, our managing director, Laura Iglesias, presented the conclusions of the workshop: how to get innovations to patients, professionals and the healthcare system sooner, with proposals such as networking, co-creation, acceleration programmes, joint identification of challenges and public-private connection.

For Catalonia.health, events like this confirm that the ecosystem moves forward when research, clusters and government work together.