The public ecosystem of the Barcelona Science Park raises 70 million euros in 2023, 40% more than in 2022
These data consolidate the Barcelona Science Park as one of the most powerful hubs for public innovation in health in Europe and reaffirm its role as a key player in the advancement of socio-economic progress and improved quality of life for society.
The public R&D&I ecosystem at the Science Park of the University of Barcelona achieved indicators of excellence in 2023, both in terms of input – funding, scientific talent and infrastructure – and output – scientific production, transfer, innovation and internationalisation – that consolidate its international positioning as a model of leading, cutting-edge research.
The institutes, centres and research groups present at the Park have significantly increased their capacity to attract resources, both nationally and internationally. This has allowed them to make a quantitative and qualitative leap in the progress of their activity. In 2023 they mobilised 69.9 million euros, between public capital (57.1 million) and private capital (12.8 million). This figure represents an increase of 39.8% over 2022, when it reached 50 million euros.
The Institute for Research in Biomedicine (IRB Barcelona) raised 34.2 million euros (6.8 million in private capital); the Institute for Bioengineering of Catalonia (IBEC), 17.5 million euros (2.5 million in private capital); the National Centre for Genomic Analysis (CNAG), 9.9 million euros (2.8 million in private capital); and the Molecular Biology Institute of Barcelona (IBMB-CSIC), 4.9 million euros (0,1 million in private capital).
As for the University of Barcelona centres and groups located at the Barcelona Science Park, it is worth highlighting Creatio, the UB's centre for the production and validation of advanced therapies, which raised 1.7 million euros (0.6 million euros in private capital); the Technology Unit of the Institute of Cosmos Sciences (ICCUB-Tech),with 807,000 euros (€21,000 in private capital); the Biomolecule NMR Group (BioNMR Group), part of the UB Department of Inorganic and Organic Chemistry, which received €422,146in public funds; and, finally, the Laboratory of Metabolic Dynamics in Cancer, which obtained €341,250(€60,000 in private capital), and the Molecular Structure of Nuclear Receptors Group, which raised €15,000 in private capital, both of whom belong to the Institute of Biomedicine of the University of Barcelona (IBUB).
"We are extremely satisfied with the results achieved in 2023. They reflect the collective effort and dedication of all the institutes and research groups present at the Barcelona Science Park. The 70 million in funding, 40% more than the previous year, is a clear indicator of our public research's ability to attract both public and private resources, so we are talking about solid lines of research with a great future outlook. The Barcelona Science Park is already a benchmark in the field of health in Europe and we will continue to work on a model of open innovation that allows us to face the challenges of the 21st century, generating knowledge and
technology that benefits society", said Maria Terrades, director of the Park.
Intellectual property and spin-offs
During 2023, the public centres and groups in the Barcelona Science Park community maintained their firm commitment to the valorisation of knowledge and technology, and their transfer to the productive fabric. In terms of intellectual property, a total of 24 priority patent applications and extensions were filed: IBEC (12); IRB Barcelona (6); the IBMB-CSIC (6). In addition, in 2023, IRB Barcelona signed four licensing contracts for its patented technologies and the IBEC, three.
In transfer, IRB Barcelona achieved an unprecedented milestone in 2023, as one of their breakthroughs led to a diagnostic device reaching the market for the first time, through the work of one of its spin-offs. The device is Inbiomotion’s MAF-TEST for breast cancer prognosis, which is now available to oncologists and pathologists and which is estimated to benefit around 24,000 patients a year in Spain. Another of the centre's spin-offs, Nuage Therapeutics, raised €12 million in a seed funding round, led by Sofinnova Partners and Asabys, to advance its programme for prostate cancer and validate its drug discovery platform.
Furthermore, the IBEC's discoveries with market potential led to the formation in 2023 of Nanobots Therapeutics, a spin-off between the institute and ICREA, which will be dedicated to developing and commercialising the MotionTx technology platform, based on nanorobots with unique tumour penetrating capabilities to deliver drugs directly to cancer cells. The company closed a pre-seed funding round of 478,000 euros, led by BStartup Health.
Expanding the frontiers of knowledge
The public R&D&I ecosystem at the Barcelona Science Park also continued to reinforce its commitment to an open innovation model as a strategic axis for knowledge generation, technology transfer and innovation.
During 2023, the public research institutes, centres and groups at the Park launched, as a whole, a total of 1,702 national and international collaborative projects with various public and private entities from all over the world, 248% more than in 2022: CNAG (1,115), IRB Barcelona (271), IBEC (166); Creatio UB (54), IBMB-CSIC (72), ICCUB-Tech (10), UB BioNMR Group (8), the IBUB Laboratory of Metabolic Dynamics in Cancer (4) and the IBUB Molecular Structure of Nuclear Receptors Group (2)