Biocat leads an institutional delegation to Sweden within the framework of ATMP Catalonia to strengthen alliances with the Nordic ecosystem

Representatives of the BioRegion carried out an institutional mission to Sweden from October 13 to 17, 2025. The mission, funded by the Department of European Union and Foreign Action, was implemented by Biocat with the support of the Departments of Research and Universities and of Health, with the PRECISEU project serving as a lever for personalized medicine. The agenda began in Gothenburg, coinciding with the Nordic Life Science Days, where PRECISEU partners celebrated the Global Final of the Hackathon, launched in February 2025 and which has traveled through nine locations around the world, including Barcelona. After participating in the leading life sciences partnering event in the Nordic countries, the delegates continued their route through several cities, helping strengthen ties with Gothenburg and Uppsala, and opening new lines of collaboration in digital health in Stockholm.

During the five-day visit, the delegation held various institutional meetings and working sessions with public and private sector representatives, addressing shared challenges in the development, scaling, and commercialization of advanced therapies. Specifically, during the first part of the week, meetings were held with representatives of Business Region Göteborg (BRG) and GoCo Health Innovation City. The group visited the Bioventure Hub at AstraZeneca in Gothenburg and met with the leadership of CCRM Nordic, the Centre for the Commercialization of Regenerative Medicine, which serves as a reference model for the scaling of the ATMP Catalonia hub.

During the second half of the week, the delegation visited the Testa Center in the city of Uppsala, a testbed for biological production. This facility, owned by the pharmaceutical company Cytiva, is also a benchmark model for the ATMP Catalonia scaling strategy. Biocat took the opportunity to strengthen ties with the regional government of Uppsala and with the Stuns Life Science cluster, representing one of the main life sciences ecosystems in the Nordic region. The mission then moved on to Stockholm to visit the Life Science Cluster in Flemingsberg, an incubator for ATMP projects featuring 10 clean rooms available to both public and private developers. The week concluded with a key visit to the Swedish Digital Health Agency to explore potential collaborations in the field of health data between Catalonia and Sweden, linked to the major European initiative Tehdas2. 

This initiative forms part of the roadmap to design the European and global scaling and positioning of ATMP Catalonia as a leading, internationally connected hub, while strengthening the value chain of advanced therapies — from research to patient access.

Sahlgrenska Global Health Hackathon at the NLSDays

As part of the NLSDays, the Sahlgrenska Global Health Hackathon final took place on the Expo Stage at Svenska Mässan, where the winning teams from different local hubs presented their solutions to the audience and potential partners. Biocat was represented by Robert Fabregat (CEO) and Montse Daban (Director of Strategic Analysis and International Relations, and PRECISEU Coordinator), reinforcing the BioRegion’s positioning in open innovation and global health solutions. 

The final featured Catalan representation with the Biocare team and their project PediAItrics, developed at the PRECISEU Hackathon in Barcelona, which reached the competition’s final. The team presented an AI-based solution to accelerate drug development for pediatric cancer patients. The global winner was eNose Diagnostics, a “digital nose” solution for detecting cancers through chemical signatures found in blood. The competition brought together more than 1,000 participants from six countries and eight locations, generating 75 new ideas with the potential to become future life-saving treatments.

In recent weeks, Biocat has also co-organized an event at the European Parliament in Brussels with Members of the European Parliament and representatives of the European Commission, highlighting the role of the BioRegion in advanced therapies and personalized medicine through ATMP Catalonia and PRECISEU. 

Looking ahead, the next milestone will be the mission to Toronto in November, where Biocat will lead a new institutional delegation to connect ATMP Catalonia with the Toronto ecosystem — a global leader and creator of the CCRM model, which serves as the reference for ATMP Catalonia’s scaling strategy.