The Universitat de Barcelona (UB, University of Barcelona), the Government of Catalonia, the City Council of L'Hospitalet de Llobregat, and the BioRegion of Catalonia have signed an agreement for the development of the BioPoL L'H, a new facility of 300,000m2 devoted to organisations working in the life sciences. This initiative seeks to ensure that the results from the clinical and biomedical and educational research performed in Bellvitge is converted into applications aimed to improve quality of life.

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The signing of the agreement on Tuesday 10 October was attended by the Minister for Health, Marina Geli, the Minister of Education and Universities, Joan Manuel del Pozo, the Minister of Employment and Industry, Jordi Valls, (ministries belonging to the Government of Catalonia), the Mayor of L’Hospitalet de Llobregat, Celestino Corbacho, the rector of the UB, Màrius Rubiralta, and the president of the Executive Committee of the BioRegion of Catalonia, Joan Cornet.

The BioPol L’H seeks to strengthen relations between agents of the value chain by hosting public and private sector research centres working in basic and clinical research in the same facility, together with reference hospitals, university centres and companies. The transfer of knowledge and technology between these agents is boosted through the development of the Parc Científic de la Salut de L’Hospitalet and the Parc Empresarial de L’H, which will be promoted via the consortium comprising the signatory institutions, and will be developed by the Parc Científic de Barcelona, which has considerable experience in this field.

The Parc Científic de la Salut de L’H, which will focus its activity of basic and clinical research in fields of biomedicine, bioengineering and biotechnology, will also provide a favourable setting for the creation of new technology-based enterprises and collaborative units between the public and private sectors, as well as promoting research of excellence at the Institut d’Investigacions Biomèdiques de Bellvitge (IDIBELL), an institute that includes researchers at the Hospital Universitari de Bellvitge, the UB and the Institut Català d’Oncologia (ICO, Catalonian Institute of Oncology). In addition, the new Science Park will have extensive technological facilities and new enterprises that start their activities there will be provided space in a specialized incubator. Once they have established themselves, these companies will then be absorbed into the Parc Empresarial de L’H.

The BioPoL L’H also includes an extension of the “Campus de la Salut of the UB, with the construction of 37,000 m2 of buildings, which will host research centres such as the Institut de Bioenginyeria de Catalunya (IBEC) or the IDIBELL. Moreover, the project also foresees a 56,000m2-extension to the Hospital Universitari de Bellvitge.