Catalan biomedicine cluster and USA’s biggest medtech companies’ association sign an agreement to promote innovation together

• CataloniaBio & HealthTech and Massachusetts Medical Device Industry Council (MassMEDIC) signed the agreement in the context of European investment congress Bio€quity in Barcelona.
• Catalan biomedical ecosystem is one of the most dynamic ones in Europe, as it means 7.2% of Catalan GDP. In 2018, biomedical companies rose 106 million euros in Catalonia.

United States’ biggest medical technology companies’ association, Massachusetts Medical Device Industry Council (MassMEDIC), has signed an agreement with Catalan biomedicine and health cluster CataloniaBio & HealthTech to promote business and research collaboration between their members in innovation matters. The agreement was signed in the context of European investment congress Bio€quity, which took place in Barcelona on May 20th and 21st.

MassMEDIC gathers over 300 medical industry members, product developers, providers, research centers and academic institutions in the most important association on medical technology in the United States. Its members have positioned Massachusetts as a worldwide leader in terms of MedTech due to their efforts on a successfully growing ecosystem.

The president of the cluster, Bryan Johnson, says they are “thrilled to continue the important work of building bridges with our international counterparts across the globe. Our agreement with CataloniaBioHT is the beginning of a critical relationship for our shared ecosystems. Much like Massachusetts, the Catalonia region has a rich history of medical advancements and healthcare institutions that are a model for the rest of the world. We look forward to strengthening our communities’ ties and collaborating on the important issues facing healthcare technology.”

On its behalf, CataloniaBio & HealthTech, driven by Catalonia Trade & Investment’s Catalonia Clústers program, counts on over 160 pioneer R&D biomedicine and health companies (startups, spin-offs, SMEs and big corporations), hospitals, research centers and universities. CataloniaBIO & HealthTech’s vice-president, Àngel Alonso, sees the agreement as “an opportunity to bring Catalan innovative companies closer the first biomedical ecosystem in the world”.

In fact, Catalonia already is one of the most innovative and dynamic systems in biomedicine and health matters in Europe, as the sector means 7.2% of its GDP. In this sense, biomedical companies rose 106 million euros in 2018, according to the latest report by Cataloniabio & HealthTech.