Biocat collaborates on various National Pact for Industry measures to boost health innovation in Catalonia
<p>The document includes four key initiatives specific to the BioRegion of Catalonia to strengthen the sector's weight in the Catalan economy and contribute to the region's reindustrialization. The proposals include: a proof-of-concept program, boosting innovative public procurement, creating a hub for emerging therapies and personalized medicine, and improving gender parity in the sector.</p>
The Government of Catalonia and the main social and economic stakeholders of the region have approved the 2022-2025 National Pact for Industry (PNI) this September to help industry recover its weight in the Catalan economy. The executive will invest €3,270 million (€453,000 will depend on European funds) in 152 measures to relaunch and transform the Catalonia's industrial model.
Biocat has collaborated in four actions included in the Pact on innovation in health and gender parity in the sector to reinforce the sector's weight in the Catalan economy and contribute to the region's reindustrialization
- Health proof-of-concept program: the proposal is based on funding proof-of-concepts to enhance transformative R&D projects with a potential impact on the healthcare system and on improving people's health. The Catalan Ministry of Health is responsible for leading the initiative, which has a budget of €8 million.
- Boosting innovation purchasing in the healthcare sector: this initiative aims to co-finance innovation purchasing projects promoted by entities of the Integrated Public Use Healthcare System of Catalonia (SISCAT), in accordance with the general aim of promoting the modernization of their healthcare services and the ordinary functioning of the Catalan public healthcare system. The Catalan Health Service (CatSalut) will be in charge of managing the measure, which has a budget of €40 million.
- Emerging therapies and personalized medicine hub: the project's objective is to create an excellence hub in emerging therapies and personalized medicine that will become a driving force for business and industrial development and transformation associated with new therapies and diagnostic tools. The hub will form a public-private alliance that will include R&D institutions, healthcare and hospital services, technological infrastructures and the business and industrial fabric of the BioRegion.
- Participatory process on gender impacts in the pharmaceutical/biotech sector: an initiative that will develop a participatory process among stakeholders on gender impacts in the pharmaceutical/biotech industry and will identify the keys to gender success in the sector, as well as the challenges for improvement regarding the situation of women in the sector and the opportunities and best practices that are created by them. The Catalan Ministry of Equality and Feminism will lead the project.
A key sector for the Catalan economy
Catalonia has a leading ecosystem of life sciences and healthcare innovation in Europe, with 91 research institutions and more than 1,300 companies which, despite the pandemic, have not stopped growing and advancing in their scientific and business goals. According to the latest BioRegion Report (2021), the sector already accounts for 8.7% of the Catalan GDP, employs nearly 9% of the employed population and generates €37,700 million, including companies in the sector and healthcare services. This is why "the healthcare sector plays a strategic role in Catalonia's economy", said Robert Fabregat, CEO of Biocat, who is confident that these measures "will have a transformative impact on the region's economy and society as a whole".