From left to right: Idoia Muñoz (Basque Health Cluster), Jesús Agüero (BIOVAL), Iván Rarís Filgueira (Cluster Saúde de Galicia, CSG), Ion Arocena (ASEBIO), Loli Pereiro (BIOGA), Alberto Nozal (AraHealth), Javier Selva (CataloniaBio &HealthTech), Zara Pons (BIOIB).
Betseen the 12 and 13 of June, members of ACESABIO met in Vigo at the Galicia Biodays event to discuss the impact of clusters on the development of business competitiveness.
Idoia Muñoz, Managing Director of Basque Health Cluster, Zara Pons, Managing Director of BIOIB, Javier Selva, General Director of CataloniaBio HealthTech, and Loli Pereiro, Manager of Bioga, highlighted strategic lines and initiatives promoted by clusters that help companies to be more competitive. The Director of ASEBIO, Ion Arocena, also took part in this round table, insisting on the need to work within the framework of European policies to position biotechnology as an essential tool in the economic development panorama.
The members of the round table took the opportunity to analyse different business models and sector specialisation that are working in their ecosystems and that have an impact on fundamental factors of business competitiveness such as talent, attracting investment, collaboration with other productive industries and the design of public policies.
According to Loli Pereiro, manager of BIOGA, host cluster on this occasion, “it is essential to talk in a forum like Galicia Biodays about the cluster world in the field of health and biosciences, as many of the companies or agents present at the event are unaware of the capabilities and tools that allow them to collaborate and expand their activity, thus improving their competitiveness”.
Also present at the event were Iván Rarís from Cluster Saúde de Galicia, Jesús Agüero from Bioval and Alberto Nozal from Arahealth, also members of the ACESABIO Alliance.
The Alliance of Spanish Health and Biosciences Clusters (ACESABIO) is made up of 12 regional clusters representing 10 Spanish regions: Arahealth (Aragon), Basque Health Cluster (Basque Country), BIOIB (Balearic Islands), Bioga (Galicia), Bioval (Valencian Community), CataloniaBio & HealthTech (Catalonia), the Sociosanitario Cluster of Extremadura, Cluster Saúde de Galicia (Galicia), Navarra Health Cluster (Comunidad Foral de Navarra), Cluster SIVI (Castilla y León), Ticbiomed (Region of Murcia) and WeMind Cluster (Catalonia).
It brings together 1,050 entities, a unique level of representativeness in the sector, with a strong entrepreneurial focus. 73% of the entities are SMEs, 197 of which are startups (18% of the total), 15% are corporations and the remaining 12% are knowledge centres, third sector entities and patient associations. With an aggregate turnover of more than €27 billion and direct employment generation of 378,000 jobs, ACESABIO is already emerging as a major player in the sector.
ACESABIO works to improve the competitiveness of companies; to generate solutions that improve people’s health. It also advocates driving innovation from the demand side. 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, 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 demonstrates a high investment in R&D&I.
