Catalonia strengthens its leadership in health innovation at 4YFN 2026

Catalonia’s health innovation once again takes center stage at 4YFN 2026, with growing representation and a shared space that consolidates the sector as one of the most visible at the congress. A total of 86 Catalan health initiatives will participate in this year’s 4YFN, a 2% increase compared to 2025, confirming the sector’s position as one of the most representative at the event. This evolution points to a phase of consolidation in terms of volume, with health firmly established as a key pillar of the congress.

Startups continue to form the core of Catalonia’s health representation, with 64 companies accounting for 74% of the total. This strengthened presence is framed within an ecosystem that, according to the BioRegion of Catalonia Report 2025, includes 464 active startups and 168 spinoffs created since 2016, in a context of sustained business growth that now totals 1,650 companies (+8.3% compared to 2024). Participation at 4YFN thus reflects the vitality of this entrepreneurial fabric and its capacity to generate new science- and clinically based initiatives.

One of the most notable features of this edition is the particularly early-stage profile of many participants. The average founding year is 2023, ranging from 2015 to 2026, indicating that 4YFN has become a key platform for early-stage startups seeking visibility, validation, investment and strategic partnerships.

Beyond startups, Catalonia’s presence at 4YFN also includes public and private entities, research projects and specialized health service providers, representing around 26% of the total.

For the third consecutive year, the focal point of this presence will be the ‘Catalonia Health Innovation Ecosystem Pavilion’ (Hall 8.0 - Stand 8.0B10), led by Biocat and the Fundació TIC Salut i Social, once again bringing together the country’s key stakeholders in a shared space to boost the ecosystem’s international projection and accelerate connections with investors, corporations, hospitals and institutions worldwide.

In addition to an intense program of activities, the pavilion will host 16 high-impact Catalan health startups showcasing disruptive solutions in areas such as digital health—with artificial intelligence as a central focus—advanced diagnostics, cybersecurity and assistive robotics.

According to Biocat’s Director General, Robert Fabregat, “The record presence of Catalan health projects and startups at 4YFN 2026 confirms the maturity and strength of the BioRegion of Catalonia. Each year we arrive with more solutions, ready to validate, scale and generate real impact on the system. The ‘Catalonia Health Innovation Ecosystem Pavilion’ is a key space to turn this talent into international connections, investment and strategic alliances that accelerate the transformation of health and people’s wellbeing.”

As highlighted by the Director of Fundació TIC Salut i Social, Joan Guanyabens, “we have structured the pavilion’s program around highly specific challenges facing the health and social care system, from effectively incorporating innovation into care centers to adapting to the European Health Data Space. And we have done so with the decision-makers within the system. This turns the Catalonia Health Innovation Ecosystem Pavilion into a real working space, focused on generating collaborations and joint projects between innovative solutions and system demand.”

AI applied to healthcare gains traction and drives new solutions for clinical and social practice

The growing presence of Catalan health startups at 4YFN is part of an ecosystem experiencing expansion and maturity. According to the same report prepared by Biocat, the sector consolidated its investment momentum with a historic record of €517 million raised by health startups and scaleups in 2025, with venture capital as the main driver and a record level of grants.

Specifically, digital health reinforces its role as a transformation lever, attracting €71 million in 2025 and accumulating €250 million in investment over the 2021–2025 period.

Artificial intelligence already has a tangible presence in both the healthcare system and the business fabric: Catalonia has 184 registered AI tools (from 85 entities), with significant participation from the healthcare system (40% SISCAT), as well as companies (35%) and research centers (25%). At the ecosystem level, 172 companies working in AI applied to healthcare have been identified, with 67% being startups (116). More than half operate in digital health (54%, 93 companies/startups).

A shared pavilion to connect talent, system and market

The ‘Catalonia Health Innovation Ecosystem Pavilion’ is supported by the Generalitat de Catalunya, the Ajuntament de Barcelona, ACCIÓ, the Agència de Qualitat i Avaluació Sanitàries de Catalunya (AQuAS), the Servei Català de la Salut (CatSalut), the Institut Català de la Salut (ICS), the Unió Catalana d’Hospitals (UCH), the Consorci de Salut i Social de Catalunya (CSC), the Associació Catalana d’Entitats de Salut (ACES), the Associació Catalana de Recursos Assistencials (ACRA) and the Taula d’Entitats del Tercer Sector Social de Catalunya (M4Social).

Over the four days of the congress, the space will host more than 27 activities aimed at showcasing leading initiatives from the region. Highlights include:

• Dr. Josep Munuera, Director of the Diagnostic Imaging Department at Hospital de Sant Pau i la Santa Creu, will present on Tuesday 3 March at 1:00 pm the Catalan contribution to the European SEARCH project, developing a tool to generate synthetic brain images simulating cardioembolic stroke lesions, opening new possibilities in diagnosis, treatment and personalized medicine.
• The Saltó group will present on Wednesday 4 March at 1:30 pm the largest active social robotics project focused on elderly care. Promoted by the Ajuntament de Barcelona, the initiative foresees the deployment of 600 Intelligent Robotic Assistants (ARI) to reinforce and complement home care services, combining advanced technology and social innovation to improve quality of life for vulnerable individuals and equip professionals with new digital tools.

16 Catalan startups at the pavilion: disruptive solutions to real challenges

The participating startups reflect the breadth and strength of Catalan innovation, with proposals ranging from diagnostics and precision medicine to accessibility, mental health, cybersecurity and rehabilitation:

1. ABCDx: develops mobile-based diagnostic solutions using blood biomarkers, together with its own Software as a Medical Device (SaMD) platform for validation and clinical use.
2. AiMA beyond AI: provides personalized support through artificial intelligence applications focused on wellbeing and health.
3. ALLPRIV: cybersecurity company simplifying and centralizing protection against external attacks, including solutions for critical environments such as medical devices.
4. Arkeobots: designs AI-powered assistive robots to support older adults, enhancing social connection and reducing unwanted loneliness.
5. Bettso Corporation: develops sound-based experiences for hospitals and care homes to improve wellbeing and mental health, reducing anxiety and increasing patient satisfaction.
6. Chemotargets: computational biotech supporting drug discovery and development through data and analytics tools for safety assessment, drug repurposing and novel molecule design.
7. COTINCLUSIVA: offers a mobile application connecting people with technological or cognitive difficulties with their families through accessible technology and universal design.
8. Debios Diagnostics: develops non-invasive solutions for early detection and monitoring of urinary system diseases, enabling more personalized patient management.
9. Flomics Biotech: implements a test using next-generation sequencing of circulating free RNA and machine learning techniques to detect diseases from a blood sample.
10. Healthtech Innovations: develops solutions to improve surgical processes and patient experience, focusing on operational efficiency, safety and humanization of care, including digital tools such as virtual reality.
11. LogMeal: offers computer vision and AI technology capable of recognizing food and analyzing nutritional value from images, with products and APIs applicable to health, sports, hospitality and dietary monitoring.
12. Lumiris Spectral Solutions: develops an optical device for assisted reproduction professionals to help select embryos with higher implantation potential by capturing their metabolic profile non-invasively.
13. MiMARK Diagnostics: focused on women’s health, provides in vitro diagnostic solutions to improve the management of gynecological diseases, initially targeting endometrial cancer diagnosis.
14. Polar NanoPharma: oncology-focused biotech developing nanomedicines and drug delivery systems to make treatments safer, more effective and targeted.
15. Robopedics: orthopedic and rehabilitation company offering technology to help stroke survivors regain the ability to stand and walk.
16. Syncotech biocompatible materials: manufactures biomaterials and biocompatible solutions for medical use, including suturing and wound-healing protocols, as well as R&D projects to create innovative devices and adhesives.

The combination of these proposals with a pavilion that brings together the entire system consolidates Catalonia as a leading European hub in health innovation, with an offering increasingly ready to scale and compete internationally.