INSBRAN INSBRAN and HEURA concentrate around 70% of this investment
Startups and scale-ups in the life and health sector in Catalonia captured investments totaling 347 million euros in 2024, a 55% increase compared to 2023 and the second largest digit in history, behind the 478 million in 2022.
This data is derived from the Biorogion 2024 report, prepared by Biocat and presented on Monday, which also states that 80% of the investments come from venture capital and 70% are concentrated in three operations: 110 million in dental health, Startup, Health Dental, 46.2 in Neurotechnology Unbrain, and 40 in «Foodtech» Heura.
Regarding the investment trend in the subsector, the report highlights the return of medical technologies – 76 million euros, while biotechnology slightly increased compared to the previous year – 43 million, and the «digital health» segment has decreased almost 40% — 24 million.
Foreign direct investments left approximately 550 million euros in 2024 and nearly 1,700 new jobs, primarily determined by AstraZeneca and, to a lesser extent, Galderma, Towa, and Qiagen, among others.
Business Creation
The pace of entrepreneurial creation has remained stable over the past ten years, with 582 startups promoted between 2015 and 2024, of which 470 remain; However, since 2020, the number of companies created each year has decreased from almost 80 to just over 20 in 2024.
The authors attribute the decreasing trend to global investment challenges, but clarify that there is no direct relationship between the number of businesses created and total investments, indicating improvement in the coming years.
1,500 Companies and 7.6% of GDP
The life and health science sector represents 7.6% of Catalonia’s GDP and gathers more than 1,500 companies, of which 90% are SMEs and nearly half of the Spanish pharmaceutical industry, positioning the third sector in relation to value added and employment (VAB) in Catalonia.
According to the latest available data, corresponding to 2023, the sector generated 44.757 million euros in revenue (19.264 in healthcare activities and 25.493 in industry) and employed 281,379 (206,000 in healthcare activities and 75,379 within the employed population in Catalonia.
Academic Excellence
Catalonia ranks first in Europe in «extremely cited works» per million inhabitants, with 3.15% of its academic production among the most cited and fifth in scientific production per million inhabitants.
It is second in securing European projects, only behind Denmark, and fifth in EU ERC funding; In absolute terms, the territory represents 45% of European projects and 46% of ERC grants captured in Spain.
Research
Catalonia is the eighth country in the world with the highest participation in clinical trials and ranks 5th in Europe, behind France, Italy, Spain, for Catalan centers participating in 87% of trials and in the UK.
Regarding clinical areas, the report has recorded a significant increase in trials on metabolic diseases, mental health, and hematology, while oncology remains the main research area, accounting for 32% of the total.
Currently, the sector «pipeline» has 75 therapies in development, of which 65% are in advanced stages (II and III) close to marketing and clinical application; These include 21 advanced therapies, which are part of the 63 active clinical studies in Catalonia.