The new accelerator of the Barcelona Science Park starts with eleven 'startups'

For some time, the Parc Científic de Barcelona (PCB) had been looking for a partner to once again host a startup accelerator in its facilities. In 2015, the incubator it had been promoting since 2007 with Banco Santander, which had seen companies like Stat-Diagnostica ---bought by Qiagen in 2018---, Infitec Activos, and Greealtech born, came to an end. Before this, there was the one it had with the Generalitat (2002-2006) which was the origin of Oryzon Genomics.

The PCB has found its new travel companion in the Barcelona City Council, and the two have allied to promote BCN Health Booster, with a budget of more than one million euros. The incubator kicked off this Wednesday with the presentation of the 11 health sector startups that will participate in it, chosen from a total of 19 applications. Aptadel Therapeutics, Artificial Nature, Bioliquid Innovative Genetics, DeepUll, GAT Biosciences, GAT Therapeutics, MiMARK, Nuage Therapeutics, Ona Therapeutics, Oncoheroes Biosciences, and OneChain are the companies that will form part of the first generation of this program.

The 11 companies will receive training and advice to help them grow over a three-year period, which will be provided by Biocat and will begin in January 2022. They will also be able to set up in the park and access its laboratories, paying subsidized rents. Precisely, this is the key to the acceleration program, considering that many startups approach the PCB interested in locating in its facilities, but do not end up doing so because they cannot afford the cost involved.

A total of 530 square meters of the scientific infrastructure have been enabled to host the companies of BCN Health Booster. They will be located in the Clúster II building of the PCB, one of its buildings that still has available space. The complex was completed in 2011, but several spaces remained to be enabled, awaiting the necessary demand.

With initiatives like BCN Health Booster, this process is accelerating in recent years and the park is expected to be completely full by 2025. With a total area of 100,000 square meters, the park has about 60,000 usable square meters, of which only 4,000 square meters remain to be conditioned.

More than half of the companies work in the field of oncology

Finding solutions for cancer treatment and early detection are the objectives of more than half of the companies that will participate in the first edition of BCN Health Booster. This is the case of Aptadel Therapeutics, Bioliquid Innovative Genetics, MiMARK, Oncoheroes Biosciences, OneChain, and Ona Therapeutics. The rest of the startups develop products for the detection of infectious diseases, drug delivery systems for chronic diseases, and drug discovery for different fibrotic diseases.