Barcelona Science Park opens 19 new laboratories to promote the health industry
The Barcelona Science Park (PCB) wraps up 2019 with its greatest growth in terms of laboratory space since 2012. This year, it has deployed 983 m2 for 19 companies and research centres in the biomedicine and healthcare industry.Through this initiative, the PCB – where over 110 public and private organisations and 3,000 professionals work side by side- is consolidated as a pole of attraction for talent and one of the benchmark ecosystems in Europe in terms of scientific innovation, technology and business in life sciences and health.
The Barcelona Science Park (PCB) wraps up 2019 with the highest growth in terms of laboratory space since 2012, when Esteve opened its Drug Discovery and Preclinical Development Centre.
In a matter of one year, from December 2018 to December 2019, it has deployed a total surface area of 983 m2, distributed over 19 laboratories –thanks to the combination of external and own funding– consolidating its position as one of the benchmark ecosystems in Europe in the area of health sciences and health, and a pole of attraction for start-ups, spin-offs and SMEs and major domestic and foreign companies.
Currently, 15 of the laboratories of this phase (804 m2) are occupied by 15 organisations: 8 new companies that are setting up in the Park; 6 companies that were already operating there and are extending their facilities; and a research centre of excellence, the Bioengineering Institute of Catalonia(IBEC), which has acquired a new laboratory.
There now only remains 179 m2 of available laboratory area with the capacity to host up to 4 companies, 3 of them in the co-working format, in order to promote access by small companies needing laboratory space at competitive rates.
The total outlay involved in the deployment of this growth is €1,679,000, €728,000 of which has been put up by an external investor, €451,000 by the Park itself and €500,000 by the company GalChimia, which will fit out its own premises.
“The life sciences and health industry is attracting an increasing amount of capital to Catalonia, to the extent that the presence of international investors has multiplied 10-fold over the last five years. This translates into the growth and creation of starts-ups and the subsequent demand for premises. In this scenario, the Park is striving to cater to this demand by investing in fitting out laboratories and offices”, says María Terrades, director of the Barcelona Science Park.
Major growth in the medical devices industry
2019 has witnessed a major demand for premises by medical device enterprises. Many of the fifteen companies that occupy the new laboratories –such as DeepUll, Bioliquid, NewBorn Solutions and Moirai Biodesign, to name but a few– have a core activity focusing on the development of products for this industry. They are start-ups or spin-offs aspiring to consolidate their activity in the Park over the course of the coming years.
According to Terrades, “the medical device industry is growing substantially in Catalonia, and the Park provides companies with this type of profile with a mature ecosystem comprised of 3,000 professionals which provides them with added value through the interactions and collaborations that can be established with other organisations.”
Consolidation of the pharmaceutical and biotech sector
The increasing presence of companies such as Greenaltech, Hipra and ProteoDesign in the PCB attests to the consolidation of the pharmaceutiocal and biotech industry in the BioRegion of Catalonia.
Moreover, companies who provide services to the pharmaceutical, cosmetic and medical device sectors are opening up new laboratories in the Park to secure access to the domestic market. Two of these companies are foreign, Complife (Italy) and NGAlab (Italy), and three are from Spain, Arcadia Analítica, Farmaprojects and GalChimia, from Galicia.
