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11/05/2026 - Events

Hospital del Mar Research Institute Hosts Biocat Tech Transfer Day to Discuss the Future of Impact in Health

On 5 May, the Hospital del Mar Research Institute Barcelona hosted the 5th edition of Biocat Tech Transfer Day, Biocat's flagship annual event on technology transfer, which this year was held in collaboration with the institute. The event brought together around 150 professionals and provided an excellent opportunity to share knowledge and strengthen ties with other key stakeholders in the health innovation ecosystem.

Joaquín Arribas | Ismael Ávila

The Path Towards Applied Science

The event opened with welcome remarks by Robert Fabregat, Director General of Biocat; Joaquín Arribas, Director General of the Hospital del Mar Research Institute; and Ramon Maspons, Strategic Director for Health Innovation at the Department of Health of the Government of Catalonia. The closing session was led by Javier Selva, Director General for Knowledge Transfer and Society at the Department of Research and Universities of the Government of Catalonia.

As part of the event, Ismael Ávila, Head of the Technology and Transfer Unit at the Hospital del Mar Research Institute, presented the model being consolidated at the institute to ensure that research effectively reaches the market and, above all, patients.

The presentation focused on how the 2025-2028 Transfer and Translation Plan aims to provide comprehensive support to research staff, based on the following three pillars, conceived as fully cross-cutting and interconnected elements:

• Identify earlier: implement business intelligence and technology scouting systems to detect the potential of research from the design phase.
• Operate better: optimise intellectual property management and accelerate strategic projects towards clinical practice through company creation and translation into the healthcare setting.
• Promote more: strengthen the internal culture of innovation through the MAR Tech Transfer Academy programme and position the institute as a strategic partner for industry through its business development area.

As Ismael Ávila noted, "this integrated approach allows us to gain momentum and ensure that our projects are valorised with the coordination and visibility needed to reach patients sooner."

Another recurring topic during the session was the debate around the concept of impact. Emphasis was placed on the fact that technology transfer is, above all, the vehicle for reaching the real world and generating tangible improvements in patients' lives.

Despite the vital importance of this goal, a concern shared by many professionals in the sector was also highlighted: the difficulty of measuring this impact. Unlike other more quantitative indicators, health and societal impact are complex to translate into standard metrics.

Ávila highlighted the Hospital del Mar Research Institute's commitment to impact assessment as a way to begin measuring this value, while acknowledging that this is a collective challenge that still requires reflection, shared learning among all stakeholders, and cross-cutting work by different units to obtain and analyse metrics.

A multidisciplinary dialogue

During the session, several disciplines and topics were also explored. Núria Martí, Director of Innovation and Business Development at Biocat, moderated a dynamic session with Miriam Ors, Director of Innovation and Technology Transfer at the Sant Pau Research Institute, and Rafael Navajo, Director of Innovation and Business Development at Vall d'Hebron Research Institute (VHIR), who explored how spin-offs and licences act as key levers for research centres.

Next, Anna Escoda, technology transfer manager at the Barcelona Supercomputing Center (BSC), shared reflections on how synthetic data can help accelerate certain software and bioinformatics projects. Montse Daban, Director of Strategic Analysis and International Relations at Biocat, offered a global perspective on how the current reconfiguration of the geopolitics of innovation is affecting the collective capacity to bring science to patients.

This new edition of Tech Transfer Day reaffirmed the strong work being carried out, as well as the existing challenges in technology transfer, both within the Catalan ecosystem and globally. At the same time, the event highlighted the Hospital del Mar Research Institute's commitment to its technology transfer and translation model to drive impact that brings research closer to patients.

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