Health research in Catalonia multiplies its staff in 10 years

The Catalan health ecosystem is increasingly strong. The 19 research centers and institutes that comprise it employed nearly 10,000 people in 2023, moving towards gender parity, attracted about 600 million euros, and increased scientific production and clinical trials, especially in cancer, according to data from the Generalitat. Compared to the first figures from 2013, both the workforce and scientific production have grown by about 50%, but funding attraction has tripled and clinical trials have doubled.

In 2023, Catalan centers employed nearly 10,000 professionals, both in the different categories of research and R&D personnel, and in administrative staff and other labor groups. Regarding gender parity in the sector, it should be noted that, in 10 years, the gender gap has been narrowing, so that in leadership positions there has been a trend towards greater equality between men and women. For example, in the case of principal investigators, it has gone from 35% in 2013 to 51% in 2023. However, the heads of research groups are still far from parity: in 2013, women heading groups represented 23%, while in 2023 they were 39%.

On the other hand, the health research sector has tripled its capacity to attract resources in a decade, reaching more than 600 million euros annually. During this period, the extraordinary effort of the centers to obtain more competitive funds through public calls stands out, reaching more than 290 million euros in 2023. Regarding non-competitive funds, obtained through donations and collaborations, they reached more than 238 million in 2023.

During these 10 years, active clinical trials ---those that recruit patients during the year--- have considerably doubled, going from 3,500 in 2013 to 9,000 in 2023, most of them for drugs and vaccines. In this period, cancer was and continues to be the group of diseases with the most clinical trials, going from 1,000 in 2013 to 2,700 in 2023. As a relevant novelty, the significant growth recorded in clinical trials for blood and hematopoietic organ diseases, and certain disorders affecting the immune mechanism, a category closely related to cancer, which reached almost 800 active trials in 2023, stands out.

The scientific production of Catalan health research centers has also registered an increase. Thus, if in 2013 6,500 scientific articles were published, in 2023, there were 11,500. Another important fact is that approximately 50% of these publications have been made in collaboration with other international research groups.