PASS Program: pilot program completed, PASS Day and first INNOPASS call launched
In 2025, the Healthcare System Access Program (PASS) continued to consolidate its place as a pioneering initiative for helping innovations with high potential impact access the public health system. Led by the Catalan Ministry of Health and Biocat, with participation from AQuAS, CatSalut and the TIC Salut i Social Foundation, the program addresses one of the ecosystem’s historic challenges: reducing the gap between the generation of innovative solutions and their effective adoption into clinical practice.
Over the course of the year, the conclusion of the pilot program allowed us to validate the PASS support model and the advisory services with the greatest value, both for developers and the system, and to adjust it to the real needs of innovative organizations. Companies like Able Human Motion, Doctomatic, GoodGut, Rob Surgical, acceXible, MiMARK, Time is Brain and OneChain Immunotherapeutics took part in this testing phase of the Guidance Unit, providing key learnings to establish a clearer, more structured and value-oriented pathway. One notable case was Able Human Motion, whose robotic exoskeletons were adopted at six public hospitals in Catalonia through a public procurement process, exemplifying the program’s potential to help companies bolster their technical and strategic capabilities in public procurement processes.
The PASS Day was another step forward in consolidating the program as a meeting place for the administration, healthcare system, companies, startups, research centers and support agents. At the event, participants shared initial results, discussed adoption challenges and highlighted the need for coordinated, cross-cutting mechanisms to prioritize, assess and support innovations with the greatest potential for clinical, organizational or social impact.
One of the highlights of the day was the very first presentation of the Catalan healthcare system’s priority needs, identified by CatSalut, which will guide future PASS calls. CatSalut explained that, out of a total of 260 needs, seven areas have been prioritized:
- Transforming care management towards streamlined, efficient processes
- Need for personalized diagnostics and treatments
- Real-time, data-driven clinical decision-making
- Accessibility, equity and flexibility in healthcare
- Prevention, health promotion and active ageing
- Integrating mental health and emotional wellbeing at all levels of care
- Communication to build trust and co-creation to improve the experience
This journey culminated in the launch of the first INNOPASS call, through which ten innovative solutions from the BioRegion of Catalonia received the Innovation Passport and access to a one-year personalized guidance pathway to help them reach the public healthcare system. The selected initiatives were Aims Medical, Aniling, eVISIO, Inbiomotion, LoopDX, MAP-AD Test, Mediktor, MiWEndo Solutions, Reveal Genomics and Signatera. A total of 61 applications were submitted, of which 59 were accepted, reflecting the strong interest and maturity of the country’s innovation fabric.
The proposals received reflected the diversity of the BioRegion of Catalonia, with medical technologies and digital health solutions as the main areas of innovation, each accounting for 44% of the applications. Innovations in care processes and biotechnology were also submitted. Regarding the profile of the participating organizations, startups and spinoffs stood out, followed by SMEs, healthcare centers, large companies, research centers and universities, reflecting the public-private collaboration that characterizes the ecosystem. The maturity of the initiatives was also significant: almost half are at TRL 7, 25% at TRL 8 and 27% at TRL 9, while 45% of the technological proposals already have CE marking.