The meeting, led by the presidents of these three entities \u2014Miquel Valls (Chamber of Commerce), Antonio Parente (CataloniaBio) and Manel Balcells (Biocat)\u2014, also included participants from the management teams of all three organizations and representatives from companies Archivel and Starlab. <\/p>\n
Biocat, the Chamber of Commerce and CataloniaBio are committed to creating a worktable to drive initiatives to meet the financial needs of the sector, such as joint-guarantee societies with public\/private participation. The need to move beyond the overly restrictive project-based financial model towards a more wide-reaching view in order to ensure the viability of biotech companies was also highlighted in the meeting. <\/p>\n
Regarding internationalization, the three entities have agreed to collaborate in driving the Catalan bid to lead the European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT) life sciences KIC (Knowledge & Innovation Community). 2011 will be key for this bid headed by Biocat \u2014with the explicit support of the Governments of Catalonia and Spain, through the Ministry of Science and Innovation\u2014 as the call for proposals is expected to be announced to select the life sciences \/ health network. <\/p>\n
The heads of Biocat, CataloniaBio and the Chamber of Commerce also pointed out the need to coordinate efforts regarding communication in order to raise awareness of the biotech sector’s specific needs and its potential economic and social impact among economic and political decision-makers and society as a whole. They have committed to working on the elaboration and diffusion of a list of the Catalan biotechnology and biomedicine sector’s top ten needs, based on documents Biocat has already started to prepare. <\/p>\n