They seek to promote a value chain in the field of biohealth, from basic research to the commercialization of innovative products.
The Basque Health Cluster (BHC) has signed a collaboration agreement with BIOEF, the Basque Foundation for Health Innovation and Research of the Basque Government’s Department of Health, which aims to accelerate public-private collaboration in areas such as internationalization, R&D&I and training, among others.
The agreement contemplates the implementation of a value chain in the field of Biohealth, from basic research to the commercialization of innovative products, taking advantage of the strengths of both organizations, according to the Basque Biosciences and Health cluster, which brings together 124 companies and organizations in the sector in the Basque Country.
In order to accelerate the implementation of a “powerful” health and biosciences ecosystem in the BAC that brings together all the private and public agents working in this field in the Basque Country, the BHC has signed this collaboration agreement with one of the main agents in the BAC in the field of health research, the Basque Foundation for Health Innovation and Research, better known by its acronym in English, BIOEF, integrated into the structure of the Basque Government’s Department of Health.
Both organizations are contemplating synergies in R&D projects with the aim of “tackling complex challenges that would be difficult to solve by the entities in isolation, as well as promoting collaborative actions in areas such as internationalization, transfer of results and training,” explained the cluster.
The idea, it has specified, is to “improve the quality of healthcare” and, at the same time, “strengthen the business fabric of the Basque Country, with the boost to the local economy and the creation of highly specialized employment in the Basque Country”.
The signatory entities have previously collaborated successfully both in the design and implementation of new strategic initiatives (the Innosasun program, especially), but also in new instruments for financing projects for the development and validation of healthcare technologies (Medtech initiative), in the preparation of research and innovation agendas in the areas identified as having strong scientific-technological and business capabilities, as well as in the identification, organization and delivery of training and dissemination actions to strengthen the Basque science, technology and innovation system.
STRATEGIC ADVANTAGES
The BHC emphasizes other “strategic advantages” of this public-private collaboration, such as the implementation of an initiative of “open innovation, where knowledge and resources flow more efficiently and without the typical restrictions of closed working environments”, the cluster pointed out.
It also emphasizes that this collaboration will “facilitate technology transfer from research to its practical and commercial application”.
Finally, the cluster considers that this agreement will allow it to “strengthen its position in the regulatory area, from clinical validation to market implementation”.
The objective of the agreement signed with BIOEF, explained the president of the BHC, Asier Albizu, is “to help strengthen an important Km0 ecosystem in the healthcare industry in the Basque Country, promoting real collaboration between both organizations, which not only enriches the research processes already underway, but will also facilitate the identification and execution of new innovation opportunities”.
In his opinion, by working together, “more ambitious strategies with a wider geographical and sectorial scope can be promoted, thus involving more actors in the Basque health ecosystem”.
To achieve this agreement, BIOEF will provide a broad health research network (Bioaraba, Biobizkaia, Biogipuzkoa, as well as the Biosistemak Health Systems Research Institute, the four health research institutes of Osakidetza) that can transfer scientific advances to the health sector.
The aim is to set up “a complete value chain, from basic research to the commercialization of innovative products, by jointly leveraging the strengths of both organizations”.
