Mariona Sanz

More than 100 million euros in private investment attracted, 610 new skilled jobs, and 15 companies created from research. This is the balance of the first decade of the spin-offs of the Barcelona Supercomputing Center (BSC). Ten years after the birth of the first spin-off company, Nostrum Biodiscovery, the center has promoted companies that develop everything from new drugs with artificial intelligence to high-performance chips, quantum computing technologies, and tools to anticipate the effects of climate change. Among the spin-offs created during this decade are names such as Openchip, Mitiga Solutions, Qilimanjaro Quantum Tech, Nextmol, OneCareAI, and Qbeast.

Leading the strategy that has made this technological knowledge possible is Mariona Sanz, director of innovation and business development at the BSC, who has accompanied researchers in the transition from the laboratory to the market. Sanz (Barcelona, 1970) leads technology transfer strategies, alliances with companies, and the AI Factory project, an initiative aimed at bringing supercomputing and artificial intelligence closer to the business fabric. With a degree in Economics and specialized in European Economics from the Institute of European Studies, before joining the BSC, she developed a significant part of her career in the field of business innovation, with responsibilities at ACCIÓ, the Girbau group, and the Generalitat de Catalunya.