Welcome

2025 has been a good year for Catalonia, particularly in the fields of health and research.  Our country no longer simply aspires to be recognised as an advanced ecosystem; today, it has the conditions required to exercise leadership in its own right, based on research, innovation, industrial capacity, and an integrated, sustainable and people-centred healthcare system. 

This is one of the country’s greatest assets. The BioRegion of Catalonia is much more than the sum of its companies, hospitals, universities, research centres, startups and institutions. It is a true national infrastructure. A space where knowledge is transformed into new solutions, where public-private collaboration creates value, and where innovation can generate economic and social impact.

The life sciences and health sector is now one of the main drivers of Catalonia’s competitiveness. It creates highly skilled jobs, attracts international investment, promotes high-value-added business activity and helps strengthen Europe’s scientific and technological autonomy. But its most important value is human: it directly connects progress with people’s wellbeing. 

This is why the Government of Catalonia has placed knowledge and innovation at the heart of its agenda. The Catalunya Lidera Plan is proof of this: €18.5 billion through 2030 to promote a more competitive, sustainable and high-value-added economic model. 

2025 has also been a year of reforms and concrete instruments. The measures introduced through CAIROS have enabled progress towards a healthcare system that is more accessible, integrated, efficient and people-centred. At the same time, initiatives such as the Lidera Transferència en Salut fund and the new calls linked to PERIS reinforce an essential priority: ensuring that the knowledge generated in Catalonia reaches further, translates into applicable innovation, and improves clinical practice, the business landscape and the lives of citizens.

This is the true purpose of health innovation: not to remain in the laboratory, in a scientific paper or in a pilot project, but to reach the healthcare system, the market and patients. To ensure that research leads to more accurate diagnoses, more advanced treatments, more efficient processes and new opportunities for the country’s growth.

In this context, Biocat plays an essential role. As a connecting agent within the BioRegion, it helps coordinate capabilities, activate partnerships and position Catalonia internationally. Its work is key to ensuring that the country’s scientific, healthcare and business potential is transformed into shared results.

As President of the Government of Catalonia and Chair of the Biocat Board of Trustees, I would like to thank all the people and organisations whose commitment makes this ecosystem possible. Catalonia has talent, knowledge, industry, institutions and ambition. The challenge now is to continue aligning these strengths in order to lead health innovation that generates prosperity, cohesion and a better future.

The Government will continue working to ensure that the life sciences and health sector becomes the best expression of our country: a country that innovates in order to grow, that grows in order to provide better care, and that places knowledge at the service of life.

As Biocat CEO, I am pleased to present the Report of Activities for 2025, a year in which we continued to advance the rollout of our 2024–2027 Strategic Plan and consolidate the BioRegion of Catalonia as one of Europe’s most competitive health innovation ecosystems.

2025 was a year for consolidating strategic initiatives and turning them into useful tools for the ecosystem. We continued to drive the Healthcare System Access Program (PASS) and launched the first INNOPASS call, with the aim of helping the most promising innovative solutions advance toward adoption in the healthcare system.

We also continued to strengthen the country’s commitment to advanced therapies through initiatives like ATMP Catalonia, ATMP Catalyst and PRECISEU, where Biocat helped connect stakeholders, generate opportunities and position the BioRegion of Catalonia in the major European conversations on the future of health.

Throughout the year, Biocat also maintained intense activity in acceleration, transfer, support for business growth, talent and international projection. Programs and spaces like CRAASH Barcelona, d·HEALTH Barcelona, Tech Transfer Day and Barcelona Health Innovation Week, along with participation in international fairs and congresses, helped raise awareness of the BioRegion of Catalonia’s capabilities, forge connections and open up new opportunities for startups, companies, research centers, hospitals and institutions.

2025 was also a year for strengthening the ecosystem’s tools for connection and knowledge. Consolidating the BioRegion Directory, driving the Health Investment Portal and continuing to compile and publish the BioRegion of Catalonia Report as a benchmark tool give us an increasingly precise view of the sector’s evolution and allow us to better project its potential both within and beyond Catalonia.

It was also a year for strengthening Biocat on an institutional level. Adding new members to the Board of Trustees allowed us to bring in fresh perspectives and consolidate governance aligned with the challenges of this phase. At the same time, initiatives like the recognition received at the BCN Research & Tech Games 2025 reflect an equally important dimension: the cohesion, commitment and involvement of everyone who is part of Biocat and the broader ecosystem. Great transformations are not built solely on strategies and programs, but also on teams, partnerships and a shared culture of collaboration.