At the invitation of the Catalan organization Biocat, the Senior Executive Director of Invest Sofia, PhD Maria Hristova, visited the technical base of the organization in Barcelona and met with representatives of the municipality of the Spanish city. The visit follows an invitation by Dr. Montse Daban Marín, Director of Science Policies and Internationalization at Biocat and aimed to discuss topics of mutual interest, future joint initiatives, including an official delegation in June this year related to mutual life sciences and healthcare projects between Sofia-based companies and organizations from the ecosystem of the northeastern Spanish region. Our hosts introduced us to their activities, and we talked about EU-funded projects for which we could apply as a consortium.
Biocat is a strategic stakeholder and catalyst for building, promoting and projecting the Catalan life sciences and healthcare ecosystem, known as the BioRegion of Catalonia. The organization was created in 2006 at the initiative of the Government of Catalonia and the Barcelona City Council as a public-private foundation whose mission is to identify the needs of the BioRegion and implement a strategy and action plan to maximize the economic and social impact of the life sciences and healthcare innovation ecosystem in Catalonia.
Biocat brings together over 1,500 companies and organizations in Catalonia: administration, companies (biotechnology, pharmaceutical, medical technology and services), universities, hospitals, research centers and institutes, science parks and sector support organizations. The cluster strives to position the region as one of the main centers of healthcare innovation in Europe and to connect ecosystem stakeholders with international players for collaborative research, knowledge transfer, internationalization, access to capital, attracting investment, generating synergies and opportunities for growth and scaling.
The meeting with organizations from the BioRegion of Catalonia was part of the B2B networking during MWC 2023 in Barcelona – Europe’s largest and most influential event in the field of connectivity and mobile tech. The exhibition attracted over 88,500 visitors from 202 countries. Over 2,000 start-ups and international leaders were part of the exhibition area, and over 1,000 speakers and top industry leaders participated in the conference program. Over 56% of those who attended came from industries adjacent to the core mobile ecosystem, indicating the growing importance of mobile technology in a wide range of industries. The 4YFN segment of the conference, which is dedicated to startups and entrepreneurs, welcomed almost 800 exhibitors, more than 375 speakers, and over 250 pitching sessions. This highlights the crucial role of startups and innovation in driving the growth of the mobile ecosystem.
If you want to see the most breakthrough technologies presented for the first time in Barcelona – check out the MWC 2023 news section at: https://www.mwcbarcelona.com/news