Montserrat Vendrell to participate today in the roundtable discussion 'New Trends in Health Business', organized by the business club Gild
Participants will debate on whether the biomedical industry can drive economic growth in Catalonia during 2011, a crisis year.
BY BIOCAT
This morning in Barcelona, Biocat CEO Dr. Montserrat Vendrell 
will participate in a panel discussion entitled New Trends in Health Business, organized by the businesses club Gild International. The debate will focus on whether the biomedical industry can drive economic growth in Catalonia during a crisis year like 2011. The other participants comprise Beatriz Artalejo, Head of Pharmaceutical Development at Novartis, and Laura Pellisé, Managing Director of the Vall d'Hebron Institute of Oncology (VHIO).
The speakers represent three distinct players in the Bioregion of Catalonia: Biocat is an organization that promotes biotechnology, biomedicine and medical technology in Catalonia, and is supported by the Catalan Government and Barcelona City Council; Novartis is a pharmaceutical company; and the VHIO is a research center.
Vendrell will outline the core elements required for Barcelona and the rest of Catalonia to become the Silicon Valley of the European biomedical industry, such as innovating in the pharmaceutical sector; adapting to socioeconomic trends, including the aging population; advancing in personalized medicine; the convergence of technologies; and the global crisis, with its consequent pressures on governments to reduce healthcare expenditure.