University of Barcelona Science Park ecosystem holds steady with €124 million in investment in 2024
The 86 spin-offs, start-ups and scale-ups operating in the PCB collectively secured €124.7 million in funding in 2024, which is a substantial rise on the €85.4 million raised in 2023.
Following an overall slump in investment in 2023 due to global geopolitical and economic uncertainty, companies showed signs of financial recovery and stabilising growth in 2024. This was particularly evident in private funding, which reached €97.5 million and remained the primary source of investment for companies in the health sector. Public funding from competitive national and European grants also rose to €27.2 million (up 53.6% from the previous year), playing an increasingly important role in driving innovation.
Investment by subsector maintained previous trends, with medtech once again attracting the largest share (€85.5 million), followed by biotech (€37 million). This consolidates their status as the primary focal points for R&D among companies based at the PCB. Meanwhile, emerging fields such as deeptech and femtech gained traction, with several standout success stories arising in the entrepreneurial ecosystem. The central nervous system, oncology and immunology remained the main therapeutic areas attracting investment.
The PCB continued to serve as a powerful driver of investment within Catalonia’s BioRegion. According to the latest Biocat report, more than a third (36%) of all capital raised in this domain in 2024 (€347 million) was concentrated within the PCB ecosystem. The report notes that investment in the sector has stabilised, with growth figures returning to pre-pandemic trends and firmly establishing the health sector as the third-largest source of wealth in Catalonia.
PCB Director Maria Terrades said: “2024 was a year of consolidation and stability for our ecosystem. The full occupancy of the PCB’s facilities and the steady increase in investment reflect the trust placed in the science, talent and innovation nurtured at the PCB”. She added: “These figures not only position us as a driving force in biomedical innovation in Catalonia, but also highlight the success of a public-private collaboration model that we champion – one that continues, year after year, to demonstrate its ability to generate impact and shared value.”
The rector of the University of Barcelona, Joan Guàrdia, emphasised that “projects like the University of Barcelona Science Park embody the institution’s transformative spirit”. He added: “The trio of research, business and knowledge transfer makes the PCB a unique point of reference within the University of Barcelona. This area will be further strengthened in the coming years with the development of the new Clínic Campus project, which will drive and consolidate the Diagonal Health Axis as one of southern Europe’s premier hubs for health, research and education.”
In 2024, the PCB successfully completed the BCN Health Booster acceleration programme, which enabled 11 spin-offs and start-ups to set up in University of Barcelona facilities and benefit from subsidised access to laboratory space. Together, these 11 companies attracted €17.6 million in public and private capital in 2024. Over the three-year course of the programme, they raised a total of €107.5 million in funding and drove the development of 69 patents.
More information: PCB website