Barcelona asserts itself as a capital for medical congresses

Although now only the Mobile World Congress (MWC) is talked about, the city hosts many other congresses, not of the magnitude of the technology fair, but also dynamizers of other sectors, such as the medical one. Turisme de Barcelona, through the Barcelona Convention Bureau, wants to focus on this type of event, after having celebratedalmost 1,400 in the last ten years, a figure that represents 30.5% of all congresses hosteds. Some, like the ESC Congress, organized by the European Society of Cardiology, have already visited the city seven times since its first Barcelona edition in 1992. "We fought hard for Barcelona to be the host city," Valentí Fuster recalls.Also repeated a few times were those promoted by the Cardiovascular and Interventional Radiology Society of Europe (CIRSE), the European Association of Nuclear Medicine (EANM), the European Society of Intensive Care Medicine (ESICM), and the European Respiratory Society (ERS Congress)."It is a lever to improve the city," defends the general director of Turisme de Barcelona, Mateu Hernández, bringing medical discoveries and new drugs to patients in local hospitals and research centers. "Congresses are a source of knowledge," adds Dr. Fuster. Some examples of medical advances presented in Barcelona include a treatment developed by Novartis for heart failure in 2014 or a triple surgery performed by Bellvitge Hospital for gynecological cancer last year. In 2024 alone, more than 250 medical congresses were organized in the city, and the forecast for the coming years is to host around 120. Among those coming in 2025, the European Congress of Rheumatology (EULAR), the World Congress on Lung Cancer (WCLC), and the European Congress on Multiple Sclerosis (ECTRIMS) stand out, which will bring together some 33,000 attendees. The latest one to be attracted to the Catalan capital has been the Federation of European Neuroscience Societies (FENS) International Conference, scheduled for mid-2026."Barcelona is an attractive city, but there are others that are too. The difference is that, here, parallel to the congresses, many meetings take place between doctors," says the head of the Medical Oncology service at Vall d'Hebron Hospital in Barcelona and director of the Vall d'Hebron Institute of Oncology (VHIO), Josep Tabernero. For this leadership, the Centre de Convencions Internacional de Barcelona (CCIB) plays a fundamental role, a venue that has positioned itself as the main headquarters for medical congresses in the city. Directed by Marc Rodríguez, it is managedby Fira de Barcelonasince 2021, accompanying the Gran Via and Montjuïc facilities. "It is important to have the infrastructures prepared, even more so with increasingly large, sophisticated and important congresses," Hernández emphasizes.

Turisme de Barcelona wants medical congresses to leave a legacy in the city

With this background reality, more than 300 professionals have gathered at the CCIB, in an event organized by Turisme de Barcelona to highlight the value of the sector.Among the attendees were the mayor of Barcelona, Jaume Collboni, the president of the Col·legi de Metges de Barcelona, Elvira Bisbe, the director of the Vall d'Hebron Research Institute (VHIR), Begoña Benito, the director of the Institut de Recerca Sant Joan de Déu, Joan Comella, the manager of the Guttman Foundation, Montse Caldés, and the founding partner of Aliath Bioventures and partner of Alta Life Sciences, Montserrat Vendrell. Pharmaceutical companies such as Uriach, Esteve, and Grifols were also present. In addition to continuing to attract new events, Turisme de Barcelona wants medical congresses to leave a legacy in the city, following the line of other events such as the MWC, which, through the Mobile World Capital Barcelona (MWCapital) foundation, makes its presence felt all year round beyond the four days it fills Fira Gran Via.A first sample was the World Parkinson Congress. The event trained 2,000 professionals with its arrival in the city, giving courses to public transport workers, taxi drivers, hotel staff, local police, and CCIB and Barcelona Airport personnel about this disease, which is largely unknown.