Roche invests €51 million in its Barcelona campus to reinforce its leadership in scientific and technological innovation
Business Investments · Life Sciences
28 Jun 2023
The Swiss company is renovating and expanding its facilities in Barcelona, where they employ more than 1,300 people from over 30 nationalities.
Roche, a pioneering multinational in biotechnology and healthcare, is advancing as a global leader in the research and development of innovative digital solutions with the inauguration of its new facilities at the Barcelona Campus in Sant Cugat del Vallès.
Celebrating 90 years in Spain and Barcelona in particular, Roche is reinforcing its commitment to talent and promoting new models of collaboration in research, bringing together more than 1,300 employees of more than 30 different nationalities and scientific and technological profiles from Roche Diabetes Care and Roche Diagnostics.
Roche has invested 51 million euros in the renovation of the campus, which includes the construction of a new building, the undergrounding and expansion of the parking lot, and the adaptation of the old building to the new collaborative working model. The renovation of the Roche Campus in Barcelona, an innovative space of more than 30,000 m2, underlines the company's commitment to people's health through personalized medicine and its vision to foster collaboration and talent.
“Roche's commitment to Barcelona is due to its open and multicultural spirit that have made it a center of attraction for international talent, as well as for its growing innovation digital ecosystem”
Josep Maria Vallmajó, General Manager of Roche Diabetes Care Spain
The new campus is designed around three pillars: people, space, and technology. Space is used as an element to promote new ways of working, facilitating interaction through state-of-the-art technological systems and implementing new policies such as no individual rooms at any organizational level.
"At Roche, we are a company committed to innovation, excellence, scientific rigor, ethics, and global access to medical innovation to build a better future. It has been 90 years since we have been in Spain, and we are very proud to continue to bet on our campus in Sant Cugat del Vallès, where we have an enormous talent to continue contributing to people's healthcare. And without a doubt, this would not be possible without the entrepreneurial and collaborative spirit that characterizes Roche employees", said Adriana Rubio, General Manager of Roche Diagnostics in Spain.
According to Josep Maria Vallmajó, General Manager of Roche Diabetes Care Spain, Roche's commitment to Barcelona is due to "the openness and multicultural spirit that characterize the city and have made it a center of attraction for the talent of international prestige, as well as the growing innovation activity based on the digital ecosystem that it has experienced in recent years. We are very excited to continue improving people's lives through the collaboration between Roche Diagnostics and Roche Diabetes Care and look forward to a future full of significant advances for the benefit of society".
Reaching the world from Barcelona
More than half of the teams at the Sant Cugat campus have global functions and work for the whole world. Specifically, the Barcelona team is part of a network of research, diagnostic, and development teams working on diagnostic solutions, innovations in digital ecosystems, and developments in genetics in 17 countries on 4 continents, all working to turn science and research into innovative treatments and diagnostics.
Environmentally friendly facilities
The Sant Cugat Campus has been renovated, among other things, to become the first Roche Group site to be completely free of CO2 emissions. The structure of the new building on the campus has been built using a solution that allows the integration of installations inside the building, reducing the amount of material used by 40% compared to traditional formwork methods.
About Roche
Founded in 1896 in Basel, Switzerland, as one of the first industrial manufacturers of original pharmaceuticals, Roche has become the world's largest biotechnology company and a global leader in in-vitro diagnostics. Roche is committed to scientific excellence in discovering and developing medicines and diagnostics that improve and save lives worldwide.
In recognition of its efforts to take a long-term view in everything they do, the Dow Jones Sustainability Indexes have named Roche one of the most sustainable companies in the pharmaceutical industry for the third year running. This recognition also reflects their efforts to work with local partners to improve access to healthcare in all the countries where they operate.