A representative delegation of all the political groups of the Catalan Parliament visited the Barcelona Science Park today (PCB) to get a closer look at the world of research and the activity carried out by the professionals who work at some of the biotechnological companies and research institutes based at PCB. The visit is the result of an agreement signed between the Parliament of Catalonia and the FemCAT Private Foundation to foster the dialog between MPs and the Catalan business sector. This gathering is part of the 50th edition of the programme, the objective of which is to gain more insight into the biomedical cluster in order to jointly promote economic and social progress in Catalonia within this sector in the next few years.

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The parliamentary delegation, accompanied by Joan Gummà, vice-president of the Abantia Group and member of the Fem CAT Patronage, was greeted by Barcelona Science Park general director, Fernando Albericio, who made a general presentation of PCB and its technological offer; by the director of the Institute for Research in Biomedicine (IRB Barcelona), Joan Guinovart; and by the director of the Institute for Bioengineering of Catalonia (IBEC), Josep A. Planell –both based at PCB–, whom discussed the objectives and the main research lines of these two institutions with the MPs and expressed their concerns in relation to the budget cut in research. Both centres are part of the CERCA network (Research Centres of the Generalitat of Catalonia). PCB`s managing director, Roser Artal, and the director of communications, Mercè Gomez, were also present at the visit.

The event included a guided tour of the previously mentioned companies laboratories and research institutes in which MPs had the opportunity to get a hands-on perspective and talk directly with the principal researchers and executive officers of the different research groups and companies based at PCB, such as Antonio Zorzano, director of the Molecular Medicine at IRB Barcelona and head of the research group that works on pathology and molecular therapy in heterogenic and polygenic diseases; Enric Claverol, director of the Neuroengineering laboratory at IBEC and director of Aleria Biodevices , a spin-off company specialising in the development of technology to monitor and control neuronal activity; François Arcand , CEO of ERA Biotech, a company dedicated to the field of bioproductivity; and Kenneth Weissmar, executive chairman ofAdvancell, a biotech company that offers its own technology and services of high added value to respond to unsolved needs in the field of health and well-being.

The group has also had the chance to meet and talk with some young entrepreneurs who are promoting new biotech companies, such as Alfonso Hidalgo, one of the directors of Infinitec Activos, a company dedicated to the development of new active ingredients for the cosmetic industry, and Cristina Quiles, director of Neuroscience Technologies, that focuses its work on biomedical research in the field of neuropathic pain. Both these companies are part of the Bioincubadora PCB-Santander, a project that PCB in collaboration with the Bosch i Gimpera Foundation, set up in 2002 to promote the creation and development of new technology-based companies, with the support, until 2006, of the CIDEM, and presently, and since 2007, with the support of Banco Santander. At present, the Bioincubator gathers 14 biotech companies that originate mainly from the academic sector and which represent the second generation of companies that participate in this project, a pioneer in the Spanish market at its beginning.