Catalonia strengthens its international profile at the BIO International Convention 2026 in San Diego

Catalonia has consolidated its international presence at the BIO International Convention 2026, held from 22 to 25 June at the San Diego Convention Center, in the United States. With 36 participating companies, the BioRegion of Catalonia accounted for 61% of the Spanish delegation, a figure that confirms the growing weight of the Catalan ecosystem on the global stage for biotechnology and health innovation.

The BioRegion of Catalonia delegation was institutionally represented by Biocat and other ecosystem support organisations, which took part in an intensive international agenda featuring strategic meetings, promotional activities, debate sessions and networking opportunities with key players from the North American and global ecosystems.

Catalan participation was centred around the Spain Pavilion and combined business presence, institutional activity and participation in strategic spaces for visibility and international connection. 
 

International networking and the Catalonia-California connection

As part of BIO 2026, the Government of Catalonia, Barcelona City Council, ACCIÓ and Biocat organised the Barcelona Catalonia Networking Reception @BIO 2026, an event held on Monday 22 June at the Hilton Bayfront San Diego Hotel, which brought together more than 150 professionals interested in connecting with the ecosystems of North America and Catalonia. The event, now established as one of the key networking opportunities for the Catalan presence at BIO, provided a privileged space to make new connections, explore potential collaborations and open doors to future business opportunities between companies, investors, institutions and international stakeholders in the sector.
 

The Catalan presence was also visible as part of European Night, the leading European networking event at the BIO International Convention 2026, organised by the European Commission, the European Innovation Council and DG SANTE, with the support of several European delegations, including Catalonia and Biocat, which took part as Premium sponsors. The event brought together innovative companies, investors and high-level institutional representatives from around the world, providing an exceptional setting to establish international contacts and foster new collaborations.

Another highlight of the agenda was the Catalonia-California meeting, organised by the Delegation of the Government of Catalonia to the United States and Canada, Biocat and ACCIÓ, with the participation of Grifols, Amgen and representatives of the Californian ecosystem, such as the California Governor’s Office of Business and Economic Development (GO-Biz). The session made it possible to share capabilities, identify areas for collaboration and strengthen ties between two ecosystems with strong activity in biotechnology, health innovation and knowledge transfer.

In parallel, the Catalan delegation held strategic meetings with international stakeholders, such as the Texas Medical Center, as well as with representatives of the Government of Mexico linked to the areas of economy and investment, with the aim of opening new conversations around future international collaborations.

Throughout the convention, the Catalan delegation also identified new opportunities for collaboration with international companies and institutions, including contacts linked to the development of clinical trials in Barcelona, connections with innovation ecosystems in North America, Europe and Latin America, and potential avenues of support through European funding and acceleration instruments.
 

Catalan talent on the programme

Catalan participation was also framed within some of the main European debates on the future of biotechnology. In different sessions linked to the European Pavilion, the European Innovation Council and DG SANTE, issues were addressed such as the need to improve access to funding, reduce regulatory fragmentation, strengthen industrial scale-up capacity and move towards more flexible and predictable frameworks for innovative technologies such as advanced therapies, biomanufacturing and next-generation biotherapies. In this context, Montserrat Daban, Director of Strategy and Global Alliances at Biocat, took part in the panel “European Biotech Ecosystems: National Engines Powering Global Innovation”, focused on the role of European ecosystems as drivers of global innovation. The session also featured Stéphane Ouaki, Head of the EIC at EISMEA; Elias Eliades, Director of Investment Promotion at Enterprise Greece; and Tiziana Rosa, Head of International Relations at the Swiss Biotech Association.

Biocat also took part in debate spaces on the implementation of the future European Biotech Act, one of the instruments expected to strengthen the competitiveness of the biotechnology sector in Europe. The conversations highlighted the importance of promoting regulation that is better adapted to innovation, strengthening funding mechanisms and accelerating knowledge transfer to the market and patients.

The Catalan delegation also closely followed debates on new support mechanisms from the European Innovation Council, at a time when European ecosystems are calling for more instruments to support the growth of biotech and healthtech companies in scale-up stages. In this context, Biocat and the EIC agreed to explore joint communication to give these instruments greater visibility among companies and organisations in the BioRegion of Catalonia.

In this same European Pavilion, and in the field of innovative therapies, Peptomyc took part in the session “First-in-Class Therapies”, dedicated to new therapeutic approaches with transformative potential. The company’s presence reinforced the role of Catalan companies in the development of next-generation biotherapies and solutions with a strong scientific component.

Daban also took part in the Greek Pavilion in the session “Precision Medicine Innovation and Next-Generation Therapies”, dedicated to precision medicine and next-generation therapies. Her contribution helped raise the visibility of Catalonia’s positioning in strategic areas such as advanced therapies, translational research and the connection between scientific, clinical and industrial capabilities.


 

Catalonia’s presence in the programme was also strengthened by ACCIÓ’s participation in the Global Innovation Hub session, where the capabilities of the Catalan innovation ecosystem were presented. This activity helped raise the international profile of the BioRegion of Catalonia and facilitate access to strategic information on the ecosystem, such as the BioRegion of Catalonia Report.

Overall, BIO 2026, with more than 20,000 attendees, focused on some of the major drivers of transformation in biotechnology and health, such as artificial intelligence applied to health, digital health, cell and gene therapies, personalised medicine, next-generation biotherapies, oncology and rare diseases. The programme also addressed key issues for the growth of the sector, such as business development, investment, regulation, intellectual property, commercialisation, translational research, patient access to treatments and health equity.