Representatives of the recently created alliance of Spanish Health and Biosciences Clusters inform the central government of the birth of the initiative and its plans to turn this sector into an “economic engine”.
The manager of the Clúster Técnolóxico Empresarial das Ciencias da Vida, Loli Pereiro, present at the meetings with the central government, points out that the project favours cooperation between agents of the ecosystem.

Madrid. 15/May/2024. The Cluster Tecnolóxico Empresarial das Ciencias da Vida (Bioga) is part of the Alliance of Spanish Health and Biosciences Clusters (ACESABIO), the newly born health alliance that unites the interests and needs of a dozen regional clusters and the 1,050 entities they represent. ACESABIO advocates being a valid representative of the entire value chain and, therefore, a paradigm of public-private collaboration. Representatives of the largest alliance of the health and biosciences sector, including the manager of Bioga, Loli Pereiro, met this week with the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Universities, Juan Cruz Cigudosa; the Director General of Industrial Strategy and SMEs of the Ministry of Industry and Tourism, Jordi García Brustenga; and the Secretary General of Digital Health, Alfredo González.

ACESABIO representatives told the central government that one of its objectives is to serve as a meeting point and to support collaboration and the promotion of territorial cohesion in the field of health and bioscience. It will also promote Spain’s industrial transformation, to make it cutting-edge, innovative and competitive. ACESABIO highlights the potential for triangular opportunities between the Ministry of Industry, the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities. The goal: to turn the health sector into an “economic engine”.

A dozen clusters

Arahealth (Aragón), Basque Health Cluster (País Vasco), BIOIB (Islas Baleares), Bioga (Galicia), Bioval (Comunidad Valenciana), CataloniaBio & HealthTech, Cluster Sociosanitario de Extremadura, Cluster Saúde de Galicia, Navarra Health Cluster, Cluster SIVI (Castilla y León), Ticbiomed (Murcia) and WeMind Cluster (Catalonia).

Loli Pereiro, manager of Bioga, highlights that this initiative represents another step forward in the access to advanced services for innovation to companies and other key players in the biotechnology and health sector in Galicia. “It is important to highlight ACESABIO’s responsiveness, favouring cooperation and trust between the various agents in the health and bioscience ecosystem, including Bioga and its more than 100 partners,” he adds. The alliance brings together 1,050 entities, a unique level of representation in the sector, with a strong business focus as 73% of the entities are SMEs, 197 of which are startups (18% of the total number of entities), 15% corporations, 12% knowledge centres, third sector entities and patient associations in the field of health in Spain. With an aggregate turnover of more than €27,000 M and a direct employment generation of 378,000 jobs, ACESABIO is a key player that reflects the entire value chain of the health and biosciences sector.

Needs and challenges

Covering everything from research and development to the marketing and distribution of products and services, ACESABIO, which was officially constituted at the end of 2023, is positioned at all stages of the process. This complete and particularised representation in each autonomous community, but coordinated by ACESABIO, makes it possible to understand the needs and challenges at each stage and in each territory, facilitating effective collaboration between companies, research institutions, public entities, the third sector and patient associations. Moreover, by being a benchmark for the entire chain, it can drive innovation in a holistic manner and promote synergies.

The new project will actively work to improve the competitiveness of its member companies, to ensure that the business fabric generates new solutions that help to improve people’s health, and advocates the promotion of demand-driven innovation management. This approach contributes to economic growth with the aim of making health an essential and strategic sector in Spanish industry. Despite the current uncertain economic situation, according to ACESABIO, studies show that Spain stands out in innovation, has been the leader in 2023 in patent applications in Europe, leads the capacity to attract competitive funds in innovation and shows a high investment in R&D&I.

Industrial transformation

The meeting with representatives of the Central Government provided an opportunity to underline ACESABIO’s crucial role in fostering industrial transformation, favouring cooperation between the various actors in the health ecosystem, which enables greater territorial cohesion to be achieved. The alliance is already working on knowledge generation and
technology transfer and also intensifies the quality of talent in scientific areas due to greater access to highly trained professionals with the skills required by industry and companies. These objectives are in line with the State Plan for Scientific and Technical Research and Innovation 2024-2027, the programme to support Innovative Business Clusters (AEI) and the National Health System’s Digital Health Strategy.

Carlos Lapuerta, manager of Arahealth and representative and coordinator of the new alliance, points out that “the reception by the three ministries recognises ACESABIO as a first level interlocutor for the promotion of R&D&I in a “quadruple helix” format, in a structure based on collaboration to achieve excellence in the services developed by the clusters for the final benefit of its members”.

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