Two strategic meetings this week have reinforced Catalonia.health's role as a global benchmark in health innovation. Catalonia's health ecosystem continues to attract interest from international actors seeking to learn from our model and establish valuable collaborations.

The week of March 24-28 has been particularly intense in terms of Catalonia.health's international outreach, with visits from two high-level delegations from Panama and London. These meetings, organized by ACCIÓ, demonstrate that Catalonia's health innovation model has become a reference point for governments, institutions, and ecosystems worldwide.

Panama seeks to replicate Catalonia's health innovation model

On Wednesday, March 26, Catalonia.health hosted a visit from an institutional delegation from Panama comprising representatives from the Ministry of Health, Caja del Seguro Social, and the National Secretariat of Science, Technology and Innovation (SENACYT). The delegation was led by Dr. Alex González, Advisor to the Minister of Health, and included Dr. Marcos Young, Director of Medical Services at Caja del Seguro Social, Dr. Maria Mercedes Castrejón and Dr. Luz Cruz from the Institute of Research, Innovation and Knowledge Management, as well as Milagro Mainieri and Ediner Fuentes-Campos from SENACYT.

The visit aimed to understand how Catalonia's well-established health ecosystem operates in order to adopt best practices that will enable development of Panama's own ecosystem. As delegation members stated: "We've seen that in Catalonia's ecosystem all sector actors participate and create synergies. This is fundamental and we want to develop this in Panama. We want to make Panama a research hub."

The Panamanian representatives showed particular interest in three key areas:

Startup generation and health entrepreneurship: How deep-tech biomedical entrepreneurship is created and driven in Catalonia, what support instruments exist, and how access to financing is facilitated.

Knowledge transfer: The mechanisms that enable translating advances from university and hospital research into the productive sector, creating economic value and social impact.

Multi-stakeholder collaboration model: The Catalan ecosystem's capacity to bring universities, research centers, hospitals, companies, public administration, and investors together to work on shared innovation projects.

Roser Alba, representing Catalonia.health, presented the organization and Catalonia's health ecosystem, explaining the articulating role the cluster plays as a facilitator of synergies among all sector agents.

This visit is part of Panama's strategy to position itself as a regional health innovation hub for Central America and the Caribbean, leveraging its strategic geographic position and healthcare infrastructure. The Catalan model, with over two decades of ecosystem building and a consolidated critical mass of companies, research centers, and talent, represents a valuable reference for this process.

High-level exchange with London: two leading ecosystems in dialogue

On Monday, March 24, Catalonia.health participated in a visit to Barcelona by a major delegation from London led by Grow London Global and MedCity, with support from Deputy Mayor of London for Business Howard Dawber OBE during the first two days.

The Trade Mission & Study Tour brought together Grow London Global companies on a trade mission, Pre-Global companies in the Fast Track programme, and representatives from MedCity and London's life sciences cluster. Arantxa Sanz, CEO of Catalonia.health, participated in a panel discussion as part of this visit.

The London delegation held meetings with key actors in Catalonia's ecosystem, including ACCIÓ, Biocat, and Catalonia.health, as well as visits to research centers, hospitals, pharmaceutical companies, and investors. This intensive work agenda enabled building bridges between two of Europe's most dynamic life sciences ecosystems.

London and Barcelona share a vision about the importance of public-private collaboration, internationalization, and attracting talent and investment to the biohealth sector. This visit responds to mutual interest in strengthening connections between both innovation ecosystems, identifying business collaboration opportunities, and exploring synergies in areas such as personalized medicine, digital health, and advanced therapies.

As the London delegation highlighted in their statement: "A packed few days ahead as we showcase London's world-leading life sciences ecosystem internationally." This mutual recognition between leading ecosystems reinforces Catalonia's position as a preferred strategic partner for Europe's major innovation regions.

Catalonia.health: global connector for the Catalan ecosystem

These two international visits in the same week clearly demonstrate the attractiveness that Catalonia's health ecosystem generates globally. Catalonia.health plays a fundamental role as a gateway and connector for international delegations, investors, and companies wanting to learn about, collaborate with, or establish themselves in Catalonia.

Catalonia.health's international outreach is not limited to hosting delegations, but includes active participation in European networks, reverse trade missions, and representing Catalan sector interests in international forums. The objective is twofold: on one hand, facilitating Catalan companies and entities' access to global opportunities; on the other, positioning Catalonia as a preferred destination for investment, collaboration, and establishment of R&D&I activities in health.

This week's visits add to an intense calendar of international activity that will continue in coming months, consolidating Catalonia.health's role as ambassador and facilitator of Catalonia's health ecosystem to the world.