PRECISEU Policy Program holds first pilot edition in Barcelona
The program brought together around fifty public policy makers, healthcare professionals, innovators, industry experts and patient representatives to co-create proposals aimed at facilitating the adoption of personalized medicine in the Catalan healthcare system.
Biocat hosted the first pilot edition of the PRECISEU Policy Program in Barcelona, an initiative launched under the European PRECISEU project to foster new working methodologies among public policy makers and stakeholders in the health innovation ecosystem. The program was held on May 6 and 13 and combined an initial online session with a second session in person at the Agency for Health Quality and Assessment of Catalonia (AQuAS) facilities in Barcelona.
The initiative aimed to create co-creation spaces for diverse stakeholders —including academia, industry, government, healthcare professionals and patients— to address challenges related to health innovation, regulation and the adoption of solutions in public systems and markets. The program used the design thinking methodology inspired by the Stanford Mussallem Biodesign Center and other international models of public policy innovation.
The Barcelona edition served as a proof of concept for the program and was used to test a multisector methodology aimed at connecting professionals capable of anticipating challenges, influencing the public agenda and driving tangible changes in healthcare systems. After this first experience, the PRECISEU Policy Program plans to roll out new editions tailored to the regions of Flanders, Emilia-Romagna and Sofia between 2027 and 2029.
The program was structured around three themed tracks: advanced therapies, secondary use of health data, and planetary health. In each area, teams have worked on regulatory barriers, implementation challenges and opportunities to improve the interpretation and application of public policies, regulations, standards and directives.
The first session, held online, situated participants within the strategic and regulatory framework of personalized medicine on regional, national, European and international levels. During the session, participants analyzed health innovation ecosystems, regulatory barriers, public policy gaps and best practices to create a common groundwork of knowledge for later teamwork.
The second session, held in person, focused on the application of the design thinking methodology. The teams used the iterative process through the empathize, define, ideate, prototype and test phases to identify applicable solutions aligned with European priorities in advanced therapies, health data and sustainability.
After the two sessions, participants will work in groups for four weeks to develop joint proposals in each of the program’s three areas. These documents aim to contribute to more flexible, consistent, results oriented regulatory implementation, and to strengthen innovation as a structural element of public health policies.
With this pilot edition, Biocat has reinforced its role as coordinator of the PRECISEU project and as a facilitator of connections among public policy, innovation and the health system, in line with the European objective of advancing toward more personalized, sustainable, adoptable medicine for healthcare systems.
You can also access the video summary.