#HealthCities The main partner of the project held a kick-off press conference
Friday, March 14, 2025
Sant Cugat promotes the economic sectors of life sciences and health with the European project HEALTH CITIES
Led by the City Council and framed within the Barcelona Innovation Valley Alliance (BIVA), it has been selected in the third call for the Interreg Europe 2021-2027 program
The objective is to promote the growth of the health and life sciences industries through strategic alliances with eight European cities
The City Council of Sant Cugat today presented the INTERREG EUROPE – HEALTH CITIES project, a strategic initiative that reinforces the city's role in the development of life sciences and health on a European scale. The event, held in the plenary hall, was chaired by Mayor Josep Maria Vallès, accompanied by the Councillor for Business, Innovation and Internationalization, Albert Salarich, the CEO of Biocat, Robert Fabregat, and the manager of Sant Cugat Empresarial, Concepció Curet.
The HEALTH CITIES project, led by the City Council of Sant Cugat and framed within the Barcelona Innovation Valley Alliance (BIVA), has been selected in the third call for proposals of the Interreg Europe 2021-2027 program, financed by the European Regional Development Funds (ERDF).
The main objective of the project is to promote the growth of the health and life sciences industries through strategic alliances with nine partners, from eight European cities, from seven different countries: Sant Cugat del Vallès (Spain), Lund (Sweden), Toulouse (France), Ivano-Frankivsk (Ukraine), Utrecht (Netherlands), Budapest and Gyòr (Hungary), Copenhagen (Denmark).
All participating cities are committed to improving the quality of life and their economies, maximizing the potential of the life sciences and health industry, a fast-growing sector with high added value, which brings together key players in research and development (R&D), as well as in the production of pharmaceuticals, biotechnology, medical devices, biomedical technologies, ICT solutions, software development, big data and AI, among others.
Sant Cugat has all the ingredients to become a first-rate innovation hub in life sciences and health. The presence of large leading companies such as Roche, Ferrer, Grifols, HP and Boehringer attracts international capital and boosts the sector. In addition, the city has leading academic and technological centers, such as ESADE, UAB, UIC, UPC and Eurecat, which promote entrepreneurship and innovation. Currently, more than 35% of Sant Cugat's business turnover —a total of 11,622 million euros— comes from this area, and more than 60% of the city's start-ups are linked to life sciences and health.
In this context, the program will improve and enrich the Strategic Plan "Entrepreneurship and Innovation System of the City of Sant Cugat del Vallès", a political instrument ratified by the municipal plenary in June 2024.
During the presentation, the role of Catalonia as a hub of innovation in life sciences and health was highlighted, as well as the benefits that the project will have for the business community and citizens.
In this sense, the mayor, Josep Maria Vallès, remarked: "Health and innovation are fundamental drivers of economic and social progress. Sant Cugat cannot be left out of this transformation. With HEALTH CITIES, we reaffirm our commitment to a knowledge economy, sustainable and with added value, that improves people's quality of life and generates new opportunities for our city”.
Robert Fabregat, CEO of Biocat, an organization that promotes and coordinates the life sciences and health ecosystem in Catalonia, highlighted that “Catalonia has consolidated itself as one of the main health ecosystems in Europe, with more than 95% of its capacities concentrated around Barcelona. In this context, Sant Cugat plays a strategic role, thanks to the commitment to growth of leading companies such as Boehringer, HP and Roche, which reinforce the territory's positioning as a reference center in innovation and health”.
The councillor for Business, Innovation and Internationalization, Albert Salarich, highlighted: “This is the first project to emerge from BIVA (Barcelona Innovation Valley Alliance) and that will unite a network that is already very powerful in our city. The creation of synergies between key local sectors such as technology and health will be the strategic, cross-cutting and differentiating point of the municipal value proposition in terms of innovation and entrepreneurship. It will give us specific tools in three areas: governance solutions, specific services for entrepreneurship, and talent recruitment and retention”.
The manager of Sant Cugat Empresarial, Concepció Curet, stressed: “At Sant Cugat Empresarial we work to connect the business fabric with public administrations, and this project is a clear example of this. Companies and our partners value it very positively, mainly for two reasons: it will allow benchmarking with other European cities and it will offer support services that strengthen the business competitiveness of the territory”.
Among the aspects discussed, special emphasis has been placed on the results that are intended to be achieved with the project:
- Improve the governance of health and life sciences ecosystems to create more prosperous business opportunities.
- Strengthen support services for emerging companies and SMEs in the sector.
- Develop strategies to attract and retain qualified talent in the sector.
The HEALTHCITIES project will allow the establishment of shared strategies between the participating cities to promote economic development, talent attraction, and collaboration between companies and research centers.
This initiative represents a step forward for Sant Cugat's international projection, positioning it as a model of innovation and collaboration in a strategic sector for the future of European cities.
The Interreg Europe program stimulates economic, social, and territorial cohesion throughout Europe.
The Interreg Europe program is part of the Cohesion Policy programs designed to stimulate cooperation between the member states of the European Union at different levels.
The objective of the program is to strengthen economic, social, and territorial cohesion throughout Europe, promoting the balanced development of the continent through cross-border, transnational, and interregional cooperation.
This differs from most Cohesion Policy programs in one important aspect: it involves collaboration between authorities from two or more member states.
In this case, it will allow us to exchange experiences, learn about innovative approaches, and compare the entrepreneurship and innovation model with countries with extensive experience in developing policies aimed at the economic development of their territories.
Why is HEALTH CITIES part of the Life Sciences and Health field?
Europe invests 1.4 trillion euros annually in healthcare, with an industry that has a turnover of 425 billion euros and employs around 9.5 million people in the healthcare sector and 840,000 people in the life sciences and health field. This sector is experiencing unprecedented innovation thanks to artificial intelligence, data, and revolutions, but it faces challenges such as the need for new governance models and the connection between talent and business. To guarantee its competitiveness, it is necessary to have a long-term strategy.
As increasingly important actors in the implementation of policies to support innovation and entrepreneurship, small and medium-sized cities like Sant Cugat are in a unique position to introduce new models that connect the skills, knowledge, resources, and entrepreneurial and innovative capacities of agents in local and regional value chains.
Проєкт «Розвиток галузей охорони здоров'я та біомедичних наук через партнерство міст (Health Cities)» впроваджується в рамках Програми міжрегіонального співробітництва Interreg Europe, що фінансується Європейським Союзом. Відповідальність за зміст цієї публікації покладається виключно на її автора. Керівництво Програми Interreg Europe не несе відповідальності за будь-яку інформацію, що міститься в цій публікації.
