Catalonia has 419 digital health companies, with a combined turnover of €652 million

Catalonia’s digital health ecosystem is made up of 419 companies, 9% more than a year ago, with a combined turnover of €652 million (+3%) and employing 5,326 people (+1%). These are the main conclusions of the report “Digital Health in Catalonia”, prepared by ACCIÓ - Catalonia Trade & Investment, the agency for business growth of the Ministry for Business and Labour, in collaboration with the Barcelona Health Hub and the TIC Salut and Social Foundation (Ministry of Health).

As considered by the report, digital health covers all tools and services using ICT to support and improve every stage of healthcare, from prevention and diagnosis to treatment, monitoring, and health management.

The Executive Director of ACCIÓ - Catalonia Trade & Investment, Joan Romero, led the presentation of the study together with the president of the Barcelona Health Hub, Cristian Pascual, and the director of the TIC Salut and Social Foundation, Joan Guanyabens. The event took place this Friday at the Sant Pau Art Nouveau Site ahead of the Health Revolution Congress, organized by the Barcelona Health Hub next week in Barcelona.

Romero highlighted that, “the health sector is one of the most important sectors of the Catalan economy and the conclusions of this study show that it is also one of the sectors undergoing the greatest transformation through the digitalization of its processes.” He added that “it is very positive news that this sector is growing and that it brings together both established companies and startups, which at the same time combine forces with a whole network of research centers, universities and other ecosystem players that contribute to turning research and knowledge into real, tangible solutions that benefit not only the Catalan business ecosystem as a whole, but society overall.”  

“The sustained growth of the ecosystem demonstrates the power of digital health in Catalonia. We have a unique opportunity to lead digital health on a global scale, and we cannot miss it”

Cristian Pascual, President of the Barcelona Health Hub

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For his part, Cristian Pascual, president of the Barcelona & Madrid Health Hub, explained that "the continuity of this report and the sustained growth of the ecosystem demonstrate the power of digital health in Catalonia. We have a unique opportunity to lead digital health on a global scale, and we cannot miss it. It is essential that governments invest in this sector: not only to ensure its economic sustainability, but also to preserve the well-being of professionals and all citizens."

In turn, the director of the TIC Salut i Social Foundation, Joan Guanyabens, highlighted that "in a context marked by the emergence of artificial intelligence in the field of digital health, it is essential to ensure a responsible, safe, and ethical use of these technologies. We are working to identify and anticipate these trends, and for that reason, we have a duty to validate AI solutions with data from the Catalan Health System, ensuring their quality, compliance with current regulations, and the generation of trust among the public and healthcare professionals. They are the primary beneficiaries of these increasingly interoperable tools, which are integrated with other data spaces beyond healthcare."

A growing innovative ecosystem

The majority of digital health companies in Catalonia are SMEs (92% of the total), while 29% generate revenues of over €1 million. It is a dynamic and growing sector, with 63% of companies being less than 10 years old and 55% classified as startups. The report also analyzes the business activity of these companies. Most of them (38%) focus on developing clinical tools, followed by digital therapeutics (26%) and wellness and healthcare services (15%).

It is also a sector strongly linked to innovation and emerging technologies. In this regard, the report highlights the growth of companies developing AI-based health solutions, which now account for 65% of the total, compared to 41.5% a year ago. The main applications of AI in digital health include the development of clinical and diagnostic tools, medical decision-support systems, and digital therapeutics, among others.

Beyond artificial intelligence, companies in the sector are also developing innovations through the integration and hybridization of technologies such as cybersecurity, which is essential for handling medical data, along with immersive technologies, robotics, telemedicine, and sensors.

In this regard, the report includes a survey of Catalan healthcare centers in which 100% of respondents foresee an increase in the implementation of digital health solutions over the next three years. These solutions will mainly focus on video consultations, clinical data integration, and surgical robotics. Within healthcare centers, primary care, diagnostic imaging, and chronic disease management are expected to be the most affected by these new digital health solutions.

The report also highlights the importance of Catalonia’s rich digital health ecosystem, which includes hospital research institutes, leading research centers, clusters, associations, accelerators, networks, and public administration bodies.

Health in Catalonia: an international sector attracting investment

Digital health also has a strong international dimension: 14% of the companies identified in the study are exporters, while 12% are subsidiaries of foreign companies established in Catalonia. The report also includes data from the latest edition of the “Tech Hubs Overview”, produced by ACCIÓ - Catalonia Trade & Investment, Mobile World Capital, and Barcelona City Council to map the technological hubs of foreign companies established in Catalonia. According to this report, 10% of these hubs operate in the health sector and have generated 1,392 new jobs.

The study also highlights that Catalonia ranks as the fourth region in the world and the leading region in Europe in terms of foreign investment projects attracted over the last five years (2021–2025). With 23 projects totaling €997.4 million in investment and generating 1,965 new jobs, Catalonia leads Spain in technological investments within this sector. Recently announced projects such as AstraZeneca’s expansion of its Barcelona R&D center, which represents an investment of €1.3 billion with ACCIÓ - Catalonia Trade & Investment’s support, further demonstrate this strong positioning.

Regarding venture capital investment attracted by Catalan health startups, in 2025, the sector nearly doubled the previous year’s figures, reaching €351 million. As a result, it ranked first among sectors in terms of investment attracted by startups in Catalonia. In this context, Barcelona ranks as the third city in the European Union for attracting public and private funding for digital health startups over the last five years (2021–2025).

A global outlook

The study also analyzes the international digital health landscape. It highlights that the global digital health market will exceed $177 billion in 2026 and is expected to grow at an annual rate of 5.4% through 2030. This growth is closely linked to factors such as rising public healthcare spending and an aging population, increased demand for digital solutions and telemedicine, the growing availability of digitized patient data, and healthcare models increasingly focused on prevention and prediction. The United States leads global digital health revenues, followed by China and Japan. In Europe, the United Kingdom, Germany, Italy, and France stand out.

The Health Revolution Congress: a showcase for the sector

Next week, from May 27 to 28, Barcelona will host a new edition of the Health Revolution Congress, organized by the Barcelona Health Hub and considered Europe’s leading event in the field of digital health.

In addition to the public presentation of this study on digital health in Catalonia, ACCIÓ - Catalonia Trade & Investment will organize a new edition of the Open Innovation Challenge, a series of meetings in which around fifteen large companies and hospitals such as Suara, DKV, Werfen, REIG JOFRE, Althaia and Roca Group, will present technological challenges related to AI applied to healthcare, telemedicine and bioinformatics. More than 200 meetings are expected to take place.

At the same time, the Startups to Funding initiative will also take place, aiming to connect digital health startups with potential investors through 10-minute meetings. Around thirty investors, including CRB Digital Health, Montana, Inveready, and Capital Cell, and more than 40 startups are expected to participate in over 200 meetings.

Finally, during the Health Revolution Congress, ACCIÓ - Catalonia Trade & Investment will also organize the Tech Meetings within the framework of the Digital Innovation Hub of Catalonia (DIH4CAT). These meetings aim to connect DIH4CAT technology experts with companies looking to advance innovation projects through the incorporation of advanced digital technologies. Through 20-minute bilateral meetings, participating companies will have the opportunity to identify technologies with the potential to improve products, services, or processes, and to explore collaboration opportunities with centers such as Eurecat, Leitat, i2CAT, the Computer Vision Center, and ICFO.