BIOSPAIN 2026

Inaugural speeches by the President of the Association and authorities

Want to tilt the odds in your favor on the roadshow? Hear it straight from the source: Spain’s top biotech VCs will unveil their investment playbooks—how they judge scientific risk, vet team credentials and experience, assess development plans, and prioritise therapeutic areas. Each investor gets a brisk, 9-minute spotlight to explain what truly moves the needle. Walk away with a sharper sense of how opportunities are valued and what to emphasize in your pitch.

The ongoing challenges at Europe's borders and beyond, the lingering effects of COVID-19, and the shifting landscape of biological threats have fundamentally reshaped the way Europe must approach its biologic sector. Vaccines, therapeutics, and diagnostics are no longer just healthcare solutions, they are essential strategic assets. Europe's ability to produce these tools quickly, at scale, and on home soil has become a cornerstone of both defense and crisis resilience.

This session brings together key leaders from Europe’s defense, health security, and intelligence sectors to tackle a crucial question: What infrastructure, coordination, procurement strategies, and alliance frameworks does Europe need to ensure its biologics production meets the demands of future crises? By leveraging lessons from recent events and the strategic insights currently driving EU and national plans, panelists will evaluate Europe’s manufacturing readiness, the strategic role of stockpiles, the integration of intelligence in preparedness, and the necessary public-private collaboration to turn strategic goals into operational capabilities.

Europe has no shortage of ambitious strategies for biotechnology. The challenge now is implementation.
Delivering a competitive, resilient and sustainable European agri-food biotechnology ecosystem will require coordinated action across industry, startups, academia, investors, farmers, policymakers and innovation organisations. No single stakeholder can deliver this transformation alone.
This roundtable will build on the key insights and recommendations collected by the EU Agri-Food Biotech Alliance from representatives from across the entire value chain—including the European Commission, EFSA, industry leaders, startups, investors, research organisations, farmers, retailers and ecosystem partners—to identify the priorities and actions needed to accelerate biotechnology adoption in Europe.
The discussion will focus on how organisations can work together to reduce fragmentation, align around common priorities, launch collaborative initiatives and create greater impact through collective action. The session will conclude with a call for organisations across the value chain to join the effort and help shape a stronger, more connected European agri-food biotechnology ecosystem.

Dr. Bueren leads the Biomedical Innovation Unit at CIEMAT and also conducts research at CIBERER and the Jiménez Díaz Foundation Health Research Institute. Throughout his career, he has made decisive contributions to the development of new gene and cell therapies targeting rare and hereditary diseases, driving the translation of research from the laboratory to clinical practice.

Internationally recognized for his scientific contributions and leadership in the field of gene therapy, he has also served as president of the European Society for Gene and Cell Therapy, promoting the advancement and accessibility of these innovative therapies for patients.

At BIOSPAIN, he will will share an updated perspective on the advances transforming the treatment of rare diseases, as well as the scientific, regulatory, and access challenges that still need to be overcome to ensure these therapies reach all patients who need them.

Since the launch of the BioBasque strategy in 2002, Euskadi has invested in consolidating an innovation ecosystem which supports the growth of the health and life sciences industry. Under the overarching strategy of clusters as models for growth of sophisticated sectors, a sustained institutional support and the public-private collaboration have leveraged the development of a growing industry currently comprised of more than 300 companies (including specialised suppliers) that account for more than 8% of the direct employment in the Basque Country. The industry is also supported and accompanied by the Basque Network of Science, Technology and Innovation, composed of a rich tissue of organisations (Universities, BERC, Cooperativa Research Centres-CIC, Technology Centres gathered in BRTA, and Health Research Institutes among others) which provides skilled capabilities and contribute to generate deeptech start ups.


Since 2015, the industry has experienced very significant growth in the number of companies (60%), and particularly in terms of turnover (187%) and employment (151%). Most of this growth has been endogenous; even today, the generation of innovative and tech companies in the health/life sciences area remains strong (first in Spain, in number of companies per capita). However, in the recent past, the region is becoming an attractive location for companies, and people, that decide to relocate or establish operations and grow their business here.


This session will explore the factors that make the Basque Country attractive, from different points of view including international companies, investors, and researchers, as well as the Basque Health Cluster and the health public administration.

Eikonoklastes Therapeu cs, TBC 

Key success factors behind high-performing spin-offs, including team, science, funding strategy and execution. What to take into account in the early stages to move fast, de-risk projects and build strong foundations for growth. Insights and lessons learned from real cases and different stakeholder perspectives.

Meet innovative startups that are seeking funding to address some of the key challenges of our society. From global warming to the challenge of feeding more than 8 billion people or the need to manage waste and byproducts, biotechnology is offering creative solutions and alternatives.

Start-ups will have the opportunity to present their business plans to a panel of investors. Attendees will be invited to vote for the best start up pitch presentation. The winner will get a free registration to BIOSPAIN 2026.

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Presenting companies:

• Bioceanics – Clara Bartra, CEO
• BioPredX – Helena García Cebollada, CEO
• Calfix – Pablo Montequín, CEO
• Genbioma – Josune Ayo, CEO
• Heuristik – Antxon Caballero, CEO
• NUCAPS – Mariano Oto, CEO
• Cocoon Bioscience - Jordi Sarrà, Head of Business Development

The biotechnology sector is entering a new era in which innovation is no longer driven by scientific discovery alone. The increasing convergence of artificial intelligence, advanced therapeutic approaches, and data-driven clinical decision-making is fundamentally transforming the way new healthcare solutions are conceived, developed, validated, and ultimately delivered to patients. As scientific and technological capabilities continue to evolve, collaboration across disciplines has become essential to accelerate innovation, reduce development timelines, and improve healthcare outcomes.
From the earliest stages of target identification and drug discovery to the generation of clinical evidence that supports regulatory approval, market access, and patient care, biotechnology companies are embracing new technologies that are reshaping every step of the innovation pathway. Artificial intelligence is enabling researchers to analyse complex biological data with unprecedented speed and precision, novel therapeutic strategies are opening new possibilities for treating diseases previously considered undruggable, and real-world data is becoming an indispensable tool for demonstrating the value and effectiveness of healthcare innovations beyond the clinical trial setting.
This session will bring together three innovative companies representing complementary areas of this evolving biotechnology ecosystem. Their experiences will illustrate how cutting-edge science, digital technologies, and clinical evidence generation can work together to create a more integrated, efficient, and patient-centred model of innovation. Through their different perspectives, the discussion will explore how multidisciplinary collaboration is becoming one of the key drivers of competitiveness within the global biotech industry.
Beyond showcasing technological advances, the panel will also address some of the major challenges facing biotechnology companies today, including access to high-quality data, regulatory adaptation to emerging technologies, talent attraction, investment, and the importance of building collaborative innovation ecosystems capable of supporting companies from early-stage research through to market adoption.
The discussion will also provide an opportunity to reflect on Europe's position within an increasingly competitive global landscape. As biotechnology becomes more digital, interconnected, and data-intensive, strengthening collaboration between startups, healthcare providers, research organisations, technology developers, investors, and public institutions will be critical to ensuring that innovation reaches patients faster and more effectively.
This session is designed for biotech entrepreneurs, pharmaceutical and medtech companies, researchers, investors, healthcare professionals, and innovation policymakers interested in understanding how the next generation of biotechnology will be built through the integration of artificial intelligence, advanced therapeutic innovation, and clinical evidence.

The year 2025 has been marked by the Biotech Act, the proposed Regulation through which the European Commission aims to establish a comprehensive regulatory framework to foster investment, innovation, and competitiveness in the biotechnology sector at a pivotal moment for Europe's strategic autonomy.
Against this backdrop, this session will explore how the Biotech Act represents an opportunity to strengthen the competitiveness of the Spanish biotechnology sector. In particular, the discussion will focus on some of the proposals expected to have the greatest impact on the industry, including Strategic Projects, financing pilots, the extension of the Supplementary Protection Certificate (SPC), and measures to accelerate clinical trials.

Companies seeking funding to develop treatments in neurology and oncology will present their companies and pitch their business opportunity.

Attendees will be invited to vote for the best start up pitch presentation. The winner will get a free registration to BIOSPAIN 2027.

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• Ability Pharmaceuticals, SA  – Carles Domènech, CEO
• Innoup Farma Kinsy, S.l.  –  Elisa Longás, Chief Business Officer
• Labsinlove S.L. - Cristina Aguilera, CEO
• Lifesome Therapeutics, S.L.  – Ana Bouchet, CEO
• Nuage Therapeutics  – Andri Leonidou, Head Of Bi And Corporate Affairs
• Oncomatryx Biopharma SA  – Teresa Rodriguez-Carmona Garcia, Business Development Associate
• Peptomyc, S.l.  – Jesús Martín García, CEO
• Trimerbody Pharma  –  Marta Compte Grau, R&D Director

The Biotech Act will establish the first comprehensive framework to promote biotechnology as a strategic sector for the European Union’s competitiveness, public health, sustainability, and technological autonomy. The law aims to position Europe in the global competition with the United States and China in this strategically important field.
About fostering biotechnology startup companies in the health sector, the Biotech Act outlines the structural conditions and mechanisms needed to accelerate innovation and improve the translation of research into market applications, so that such initiatives may be recognized by the Commission as “high impact health biotechnology strategic projects”.
The Biotech Act advocates for achieving critical mass through clusters - not hundreds of small biotechnology hubs scattered everywhere - but rather half a dozen large “super-clusters” capable of attracting substantial investment and offering strong, competitive capacities in innovation, manufacturing, and infrastructure.

The Decisions Behind Long-Term Success

Twenty years ago, 3PBIOVIAN was founded with a clear purpose: to advance global health by helping innovators bring new therapies to patients. Today, the company is a GMP manufacturing partner supporting healthcare innovators around the world.
What happened in between was neither luck nor a straight path to success. It was the result of deliberate decisions made over two decades of growth, transformation, and execution.
This roundtable explores the critical choices that enable biotechnology companies to move from scientific promise to industrial reality. Bringing together perspectives from an industry leader, a trusted customer, a quality and regulatory expert, and a growth investor, the discussion will examine the decisions that shaped the journey from startup ambition to international scale.
The conversation will explore the thinking behind those choices: setting a long-term strategic direction, building enduring customer partnerships, establishing a quality culture capable of meeting the highest regulatory standards, and securing the financial foundations required for sustainable growth.
This is a conversation about growth, resilience, and the decisions that turn ambition into lasting impact.

As the Guest Nation of BIOSPAIN 2026, the United Kingdom takes centre stage in this high-level round table exploring how UK–Spain collaboration can drive innovation, competitiveness and growth across the life sciences sector through Horizon Europe.

Bringing together leading British and Spanish voices from across biotech, research, innovation and public-sector collaboration, this session will examine the strategic value of stronger bilateral partnerships within the Horizon Europe framework. Speakers will discuss how organisations in both countries can work together more effectively in R&D, translational science, health innovation, industrial biotech and international consortia-building.

The discussion will highlight practical pathways for collaboration between UK and Spanish stakeholders, showcase examples of successful partnership models, and explore how both countries can leverage their complementary scientific strengths, innovation ecosystems and shared ambitions to unlock new opportunities in European funding and cross-border innovation.

The round table will offer attendees a timely opportunity to hear directly from experts and decision-makers on the future of UK–Spain cooperation in biotech and the wider life sciences landscape, while celebrating the UK’s special role at BIOSPAIN 2026.

Spanish biotech spin-offs are stepping onto the global stage like nimble launchpads of innovation, pulling in investors and partners from Europe, the US and Asia. Rooted in world-class science yet built for translation, they marry academic brilliance with entrepreneurial grit — and with sharper international branding, smoother regulatory pathways and bolder cross-border alliances, they can turn local discoveries into scalable, globe-spanning solutions.

Build high-impact investor pitches that translate medical-device and in vitro diagnostics innovation into clear financial potential and patient-outcome narratives investors can’t ignore.

Attendees will be invited to vote for the best start up pitch presentation. The winner will get a free registration to BIOSPAIN 2027.

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Debios Diagnostics — Joan Grasas, Ceo
Manina Medtech — Mónica, Rodríguez de la Vega Otazo, CEO
Opportunity Health — Germán Alejandro Sánchez Martín, CEO
Optec4Life — Francesc Paris Huguet, CEO

Advanced Therapies and Next-Gen Biotech Platforms to Deliver Global Health Impact
Given the relative strength of the Basque Country in industrial biotechnology capabilities—particularly in advanced manufacturing, regenerative medicine, and translational research—this proposal envisions a coherent set of 2–3 interconnected BIOSPAIN 2026 sessions exploring advanced therapies and next-generation biotech platforms from complementary perspectives. Rather than a single discussion, the aim is to reflect the breadth and maturity of the regional ecosystem by distributing expertise across multiple formats, including thematic panels and moderated discussions.
These sessions would collectively examine how scientific innovation, industrial scale-up, and clinical translation converge to enable global impact in advanced therapies. While each session would address a distinct angle—from platform technologies and manufacturing infrastructure to translational science and clinical application—they would be designed to offer a unified narrative around the Basque Country’s role as a European hub for advanced biomedicine.
Across the proposed sessions, participation would include leading voices from biotechnology companies, industrial-scale manufacturing organizations, and academic and translational research institutions:
The session provides a review of platform technologies and genome engineering, industrialization and manufacturing of gene and cell therapies, and translational research and clinical integration, depending on final program design.
Overall, this proposal aims to showcase the Basque Country’s distinctive positioning at the intersection of industrial capability, scientific excellence, and translational innovation, illustrating how regional strengths can be leveraged to drive global health impact in advanced therapies through coordinated, multi-stakeholder dialogue.

Quantum technologies are rapidly evolving from theoretical promise to practical tools across biomedicine and biotechnology. Early applications in drug discovery, molecular simulation, quantum enhanced imaging, and secure data infrastructures are already underway, supported by hybrid quantum–classical approaches and pioneering industrial collaborations. This panel will bring together experts from quantum computing, biotechnology, diagnostics, and cybersecurity to explore near term opportunities and realistic pathways for adoption.
Participants will gain insights into emerging use cases, regulatory considerations, and strategic actions enabling biotech and health organizations to prepare for the quantum decade ahead.

Introduction: Why Quantum for Biotech Now? (5 min)

Block 1 – Quantum Computing in Biomedicine: Molecules, Models and Precision Medicine (20 min)

Block 2 – Quantum Sensing, Imaging and Diagnostics: The Next Frontier (20 min)

Block 3 – Quantum Biotech Industrial Collaborations and Biomanufacturing (20 min)

Speakers TBA
Multiverse Computing
BasQ 

Bizkaia has developed its own model for promoting strategic sectors, based, on the one hand, on the territory's capacity to design and activate advanced tax instruments, and on the other hand, on the creation of new financing vehicles that combine private contributions or facilitate access to cutting-edge enabling technologies.

In this round table, representatives from the Bizkaia Provincial Treasury, Seed Capital Bizkaia, BEAZ, and Lank will share how the territory has built specific tools to accelerate innovation and generate new opportunities in sectors such as biotechnology, combining tax incentives, specialized public investment, and future-oriented technological strategies like BIQAIN.

Artificial intelligence is reshaping every stage of the pharmaceutical innovation pathway, from the identification of novel therapeutic targets to clinical development, regulatory decision-making and patient access. The convergence of next-generation sequencing, integrative multi-omics, advanced machine learning and emerging European health data infrastructures is creating unprecedented opportunities to accelerate the development of safer, more effective and more personalized medicines.

This round table will gather leaders from government, biotechnology, the pharmaceutical industry and biomedical research to explore how AI is transforming the entire drug development continuum. The discussion will examine how next-generation sequencing and the integration of genomics, transcriptomics, proteomics, metabolomics and other complementary data sources are enabling a deeper understanding of disease biology, improving target identification and validation, and advancing biomarker discovery for precision medicine.

The conversation will then address the application of AI throughout clinical development, including trial design, patient stratification, digital endpoints, real-world evidence generation and regulatory science. Particular attention will be given to the opportunities created by the European Health Data Space (EHDS), which will provide an unprecedented framework for the secure and responsible secondary use of health data to support biomedical research, innovation and evidence generation across Europe.

Beyond the technological advances, the panel will discuss the governance, interoperability and trust frameworks required to translate AI into clinical and societal value. Speakers will also consider how emerging European policy initiatives, including the forthcoming European Biotech Act, can strengthen Europe's innovation ecosystem by fostering investment, enabling responsible data sharing, supporting regulatory innovation and reinforcing the continent's competitiveness in AI-enabled biotechnology.

Bringing together perspectives from industry, academia and public administration, this session will offer a strategic discussion on how Europe—and Spain in particular—can leverage artificial intelligence, integrative 'omics and health data to accelerate biomedical innovation while ensuring scientific excellence, regulatory confidence and better outcomes for patients.

Engineered living materials (ELMs) are composed, either entirely or partly, of living cells. ELMs entirely composed of living cells are called biological ELMs and they self-assemble via a bottom-up process – e.g. synthetic morphogenesis for organoids’ production. ELMs only partly composed of living cells are called hybrid living materials (HLMs) and are built with a top-down process with integrated polymers or scaffolds. In both cases, the cellular components extract energy from the environment to form or assemble the material itself, and to adapt its morphology and function to environmental stimuli. This endows these materials with a combination of properties not present in any non-living material: self-regeneration, adaptation to environmental clues, longevity and environmental sustainability. By being alive, ELMs represent a fundamental change in materials’ production and performance, enabling new, better or similar functionalities, compared to traditional materials but with decreased costs and environmental impact. ELMs have the potential to transform virtually every modern endeavour from healthcare to infrastructures to transportation.


Possible speakers

• Biotech Alliance members

Following a market correction, ATMPs are entering a more selective phase where scientific promise must be matched by clear execution. This session will examine what differentiates companies that get funded, scaled, and ultimately acquired. The discussion will focus on investor selection criteria at seed and Series A, including data thresholds, platform differentiation, and capital efficiency. It will also address the role of delivery and manufacturing in enabling—or limiting—scalability. From a pharma perspective, the panel will highlight what drives partnering and acquisition decisions, and why many ATMP companies fail to reach that stage. Bringing together investors, founders, pharma, and manufacturing experts, the session will provide a practical framework to assess ATMP opportunities in today’s environment.

Women specificities in healthcare are gaining importance due to the higher socieconomical status in developed countries and insights from research highlighting sex and gender disparities in the development, prevention and treatment of diseases.

As an example, cardiovascular disease remains the leading cause of death among women in the EU, yet it is still under-researched, frequently misdiagnosed, and often undertreated. Another case is that of migraine, an under-recognized women's health problem. Its high prevalence in women, the gender gap in diagnosis, and diagnostic delays have a significant economic, occupational, and social impact impacting career paths, leisure time, social life, and reproductive decisions.

Understanding women's health requires moving beyond a "one-size-fits-all" medical model to one that recognizes the profound impact of sex and gender on health outcomes and considers the differential needs in prevention and treatment. In parallel, there is a growing high-tech market delivering new healthcare products and services specifically designed for women, the so-called femtech sector, with innovations specifically designed for women’s wellness or care related to diagnostic devices, wearable sensors, etc. This panel will analyze this healthcare paradigm change and the related technological innovations as well as the integration of these aspects into routine clinical workflows by multidisciplinary experts including a cardiologist with expertise in digital health and AI, pharma and femtech companies.

A call to political action: propose a national health plan with a gender perspective, more training in primary care, more sex-disaggregated research, and greater institutional recognition.

Cell and gene therapies (CGT) have revolutionised the treatment of many conditions and they continue to attract significant levels of investment. Their development faces unique challenges, ranging from technical complexity, regulation, scaling production, and the requirement of innovative commercialization models. This roundtable will explore how CGT can be effectively translated into innovation that reaches the market, creates value, and improves people’s lives. A range of topics will be covered, with particular emphasis on some key challenges such as response durability, toxicity management, targeting of solid tumours, and the development of robust analytical workflows for functional characterisation, including approaches such as real-time cytotoxicity assays and multimodal cell profiling.