Around thirty CEOs from CataloniaBio & HealthTech met on Tuesday 13 December at the HUB cambraDigital (Barcelona Chamber of Commerce) for the fifth edition of the CEO Council this 2023. The special guest at this last event of the year was Javier Ponce, Director General of the CDTI. The welcome was given by Joan Puig de Dou, CEO of Kymos and President of CataloniaBio & HealthTech.

The session with Javier Ponce focused on the CDTI's vision of the risks and opportunities in the biotechnology sector. Ponce joined the CDTI in 1992 as a technician in the International Directorate, since then he has held various positions. Between 2012 and 2018, until his appointment as Director General, he coordinated and directed the overall economic and financial management of the CDTI as well as the investment policy in capital of technology companies, and was also advisor to the public investment company INNVIERTE.

From his experience and knowledge, Ponce reviewed the origin and history of the CDTI until it became the organisation for the support of R&D and business innovation that it is today. Together with an analysis of the sector and the behaviour of the different stakeholders (public institutions, research centres, start-up companies, large pharmaceutical companies...), he also reviewed how the CDTI calls for proposals have evolved, in the process of concretisation and adaptation to the reality of each moment.

Ponce also shared an analysis of the biotechnology market in Spain, as well as some reflections on how to capture the economic return from start-ups. That creativity is found more in small companies, outside the pharmaceutical industry, and the fact that the latter has adopted a policy of acquiring knowledge rather than developing it. In this scenario, Ponce reflected on the cost that this dynamic entails for the state, taking into account the support given to companies that may eventually end up selling knowledge to large pharmaceutical companies, some of which may not even be from Spain.

After his speech, the conversation was opened with the thirty or so attendees, in a particularly participative debate focused on funding criteria, on the options available to companies in the sector, and on the different realities that exist at international level.

CataloniaBio & HealthTech closes this year with a total of 5 CEO Council meetings, the third meetings in small committee with members of the boards of directors of start-ups and companies of CataloniaBio & HealthTech where a high-level expert, a business leader or a political leader is invited to share experiences and strategic perspectives for the companies. This year 2023 the guests were Antón Costas, President of the Economic and Social Council; Boi Ruiz, President of Know How Advisors; Núria Mas, Professor of Economics at IESE; Xavier Prats, President of the Board of Trustees of the Hospital de Sant Pau; and Javier Ponce.