This year, the Biospain Fair is in its 12th edition and is being held in Barcelona again, after having already hosted the 2023 edition, which was the most crowded in the history of this event. An event that will also try to be held in the city again in 2027 and 2029.

Biospain brings together around a thousand companies from the biotechnology sector, more than 260 exhibitors, around 60 conferences and allows for 5.000 individual meetings. It also has a prominent international presence, with 34% of delegates from other countries and more than thirty states represented.

The event also includes regulatory agencies and the main investors, both national and international, in the biotechnology sector. It is organized by the Spanish Association of Biocompanies (AseBio), Biocat (the Bioregion of Catalonia), and has the support of the Barcelona City Council and the Generalitat of Catalonia.

Inauguration

The Deputy Mayor, Economy, Housing, Finance and Tourism, Jordi Valls, participated this morning in the inauguration of the 12th edition of the Biospain Fair, the largest biotechnology event organized by a national bioindustry association in Europe and one of the largest in the world for the number of individual meetings that take place and participating companies. The fair will be held in Pavilion 1 of the Fira de Barcelona, ​​in Montjuïc, until Thursday, October 9.

Jordi Valls highlighted that hosting this fair “is an honor and a source of pride for the city that has consolidated itself as one of the main biomedical capitals in Europe and the world”. The Deputy Mayor also wanted to recall that “Barcelona is a city of science and research, with a very good public health system that guarantees this right, which stimulates innovation as well as the attraction of companies and investments, generating a virtuous circle for the biomedical sector”.

Barcelona, a city of reference

The Bioregion of Catalonia currently comprises 1.523 companies (in the fields of biotechnology, medical technology, digital health and pharmacy) and 93 research institutions, such as universities, science and technology parks, hospitals and also research centres. Of this large conglomerate, the majority (94%) is located within the Barcelona area, and more specifically it is distributed throughout the capital itself (53.4%) and the municipalities of Sant Cugat del Vallès (5.3%), Cerdanyola del Vallès (3.7%), l’Hospitalet de Llobregat (2.6%) and Terrassa (2.1%).

Catalonia is fifth in Europe and eighth in the world in clinical trials, and is the continental leader in importance in citations of articles and publications within this field. All of this generates in economic terms 7.6% of the total Catalan GDP and as a sector it ranks third, only behind commerce and the entire real estate sector.

All of these main data can be consulted in the BIOCAT 2024 Report, published in April.