BIOSPAIN 2026

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.

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 

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.

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.