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The “Nanotechnology for Healthcare Forum” held at the PCB opens business opportunities between Catalonia and the United Kingdom

By 10 de July de 2012November 18th, 2020No Comments
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 10.07.2012

The “Nanotechnology for Healthcare Forum” held at the PCB opens business opportunities between Catalonia and the United Kingdom

With the aim of promoting new business opportunities and future collaborations in the field of nanotechnology for healthcare between Catalonia and the United Kingdom, Biocat and the UK Trade & Investment-British General Consulate, the "Nanotechnology for Healthcare Forum" was held yesterday at the auditorium of the Barcelona Science Park. The meeting was held within the framework of the BioNanoMed Catalonia Alliance and featured the collaboration of the Institute for Bioengineering of Catalonia (IBEC), Nano KTN (Knowledge Transfer Network) and the Barcelona Science Park (PCB). Carmen Plasencia, CEO of Aromics, based at the PCB, was one of the featured speakers at the event.


The conference brought together representatives from companies and research centres from both countries, with an attendance of over 120 participants. The inauguration of the conference was led by Andrew Gwatkin, British Consul at the General Consulate in Barcelona, who after thanking Biocat for its collaboration in organizing the meeting, stressed that “biotechnology and the pharmaceutical industry, both in the United Kingdom and Catalonia, are examples of success, and therefore the aim of this meeting was to provide a clearer view of the excellence of the United Kingdom in nanotechnology applied to healthcare and to promote trade and collaboration business relationships between British and Catalan companies.” Moreover, the British Consul added that” the Barcelona UKTI (UK Trade and Investment) is attending this forum to offer its support to businesses and to obtain positive results from the collaboration agreement reached as a result of today´s meeting.”

The presentation byJessica Griffiths, senior consultant on trade & investment at the British Consulate, was followed by a presentation by Carlos Lurigados, project director of the Department of Innovation at Biocat, who also highlighted the collaboration of the British consulate and the UKTI in organizing this conference. During his speech, Lurigados pointed out the strengths of the Bioregion of Catalonia “that with a 1.5% of Europe’s population contributes a 3% of the scientific production.” In the specific field of bionanomedicine, Lurigados said that “based on the great Catalan potential”, Biocat and the Institute for Bioengineering of Catalonia, promoted the BioNanoMed CAtalonia Alliance towards the end of 2010, the goals of which include working to create new business opportunities, which is precisely the purpose of this Forum.”

Next, Jon Mowles, an expert in the field of life sciences, gave a lecture highlighting “the internationally renowned high status of universities and the natural collaboration of a vibrant sector in research and development, with a market ready to receive innovative products and services, which make the UK the ideal place for Catalan companies to start their international expansion in the field of science. This has been demonstrated in recent years and that is why, personally, we hope to work with a larger number of Catalan companies in the near future.” Mike Fisher, theme manager Healthcare & Life Sciences at Nano KTN, and Josep Samitier, associate director at the IBEC, closed the series of lectures listing the key aspects of nanotechnology applied to healthcare in the United Kingdom and Catalonia, respectively.

The meeting concluded with presentations by representatives from nine companies and research groups from Catalonia and the UK. Catalonia was represented by: Lykera / Leitat, Aromics, GP-Pharm, Catalan Institute of Nanotechnology (ICN) and the Centre for Research in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology for Nanomedicine (CIBBIM-Nanomedicina) of Vall d’Hebron Research Institute (VHIR). The United Kingdom was represented by: Molecular Profiles, Cels, Xenogesis Ltd and Swansea Centre for NanoHealth.