The head of R&D at Hijos de Rivera takes over from Carme Pampín, after more than a decade as president of the cluster, as a “very interesting” challenge and with the intention of continuing to grow.
After 12 years at the head of Bioga, in which she managed to place the Galician biotechnology sector at the forefront, Carme Pampín hands over the baton to you. How do you take on the challenge?

Carme has been there from the beginning. She managed to establish the cluster, mature it and now we are already in a stage of growth. It is a very good inheritance and leaves wonderful expectations. It is a cluster that works very well, everyone who participates comes with a great desire to collaborate and I think that is one of the great successes of her good work. He has managed to get people to do their part for the benefit of all. Working in a field as complex as biotechnology, which is very difficult to understand and even more so ten years ago, he has managed to make a place for himself in a community like Galicia and now it seems that he is on everyone’s lips. It is certainly a very interesting challenge.

What are the objectives of the sector and the Bioga Cluster for the period 2023-2024?

The main challenge right now is growth. And at the same time we are starting to carry out a small internationalization of the companies that work in Galicia, which is going to need to be promoted for several years because it is not something that can be achieved in a short period of time. One of the good things about biotechnology is that working from a peripheral region like Galicia allows you to position yourself without any problem in the rest of Europe and even in the United States or Japan. That is perhaps the most challenging challenge, but also the most interesting.

Does activity continue to maintain the momentum in the creation of companies that led Galicia to be at the head of Spain?

Yes, this year there is also a great growth again. Practically every month we have applications. The fact of being the second or the community in Spain may be circumstantial. What is important is the trajectory of these years, in which Galicia has become a really active region in the creation of companies, but also in the fact that many of them have succeeded. That is one of the things that we think are being done well from the Cluster, because they tell us that in an initial stage in which everything is very complex, they are finding support and see references in other companies that started years ago and achieved a sustained growth. We are achieving that Galicia is not only well positioned in terms of numbers, but also in terms of sensations. What they transmit to us from other places is that Galicia is sounding like an important Bioregion at European level. That is one of the companies, of the Cluster and of the Administration, which is supporting us because it sees that the indicators we are giving are what they expected.

Could your arrival at the presidency of Bioga from a company like Hijos de Rivera, linked to the production, distribution and marketing of beverages, be a nod to this commitment to the hybridization of biotech with other activities?

There are many companies that use biotechnology in a traditional way, for example in the production of bread or wine, which are also clearly biotech sectors. I believe that the real challenge behind this is to incorporate a technology that can be key to creating products that are disruptors in the market, which is what allows you to make a difference in order to take a leap forward. It is true that biotechnology has been born a bit associated with biomedicine, but it is key for other sectors such as agri-food, environment, sustainability, circularity? Biotechnology can be key to helping many companies to generate business in the short and medium term.

Did the pandemic help to create this awareness of the usefulness of biotechnology?

When the pandemic started, the sector was already emerging. What the solutions that were found in that framework allowed was to make these companies known to the public. In biotechnology, many companies find it difficult to explain what they do, because they are very technical and work in very specific areas. Suddenly we have all had a master’s degree in biotechnology knowledge that was totally unexpected and that allowed many people to understand what is being done and that it can be key for society. Beyond the figures, it allowed for much greater visibility.

A visibility that is translating into an interest in capital and funds from other communities or foreign countries coming to Galicia. What can be done to maintain or even increase this trend?

What we have to do is to work well. It is true that a few years ago it was difficult for us to attract investment funds to come to Galicia, to travel from Madrid, Barcelona, the Basque Country and give opportunities to Galician companies, and now we find that they are the ones who call us. More than quantitative, the sector has made an enormous qualitative leap. Suddenly you get calls from people you haven’t even contacted because they have heard that things are being done here, so they want to be there. Recently we were told that an international fund placed Galicia as one of the five most important Euroregions in the sector. We are already making a leap in internationalization. We are getting our name to be heard abroad and that is very important for both investment and business opportunities. Regional brands work. I am in a company (Hijos de Rivera) that is greatly helped by the regional brand, how well received Galician products are outside the community, and the fact that in biotechnology the developments and companies that come from here are beginning to be associated with projects that are worth betting on is key because the investor is what he wants. What we are seeing is that startups born in Galicia have a good chance of growing, maturing and expanding, and that is what investors want. What we have to do is to ensure that this continues to be possible. It is also a task of the Cluster because in the end we all support each other by generating business, opportunities…

How important are initiatives such as the A Sionlla Biotechnology Pole, in Santiago, where Bioga is moving its headquarters?

The creation of the biopole can be a factor that can generate a certain inflation in the development of the creation of new startups. The initial investment factor required by these companies is often a limiting factor for them to emerge. Taking a conventional warehouse and transforming it into a laboratory requires a very high investment compared to other types of business, such as the ICT sector, and having facilities that are suitable for companies in the sector will support not only those that are just starting out but also those that are in the first stage of growth and will help more companies to emerge. In addition, they will be grouped together, which will undoubtedly generate synergies and Bioga has to be there. The bet is clear, for us the Biopolo is strategic, we have always wanted to be with the companies and we think this is the way to make it work. Being all in the same place so that opportunities, ideas and proposals can arise will facilitate a more accelerated growth.

As head of R&D at Hijos de Rivera, can you tell us if there will be any innovation in the field of beverages that will surprise us in the coming months?

Our goal is always to surprise. I think we have been achieving this for several years with innovation within a culture of artisan production, which has always sought to respect the origins, but with a very defined commitment. I believe that this is being achieved and although in R&D there is never a short term, in the medium and long term we do expect that there will be disruptive products in the market, something that would probably be very difficult for us if the research groups, technology centers and stratups that support us in our studies had not developed so much, because one cannot do everything on one’s own. In the end, having a high-tech environment makes it much easier for us to carry out the studies we are working on and of which, for the moment, we cannot count on many.

Original news: “Hace años al biotech gallego le costaba atraer fondos, ahora nos llaman ellos” (elcorreogallego.es), 11/06/2023

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