BIOSPAIN 2025 closes with record attendance and passes the baton to Bilbao as 2026 host city

The International Biotechnology Meeting BIOSPAIN 2025, held from October 7 to 9 at Fira de Barcelona – Montjuïc, organized by AseBio and Biocat, in collaboration with the Government of Catalonia and the Barcelona City Council, concluded its twelfth edition with record attendance figures and announced Bilbao as the new host city for 2026, where the congress will take place from September 29 to October 1.

The 2025 edition, which concluded today in the Catalan capital, surpassed the figures achieved in BIOSPAIN 2023, also held in Barcelona. More than 2,400 attendees from 1,065 organizations across 34 countries, 140 investors from 76 national and international investment entities, and 250 exhibitors gathered over the three-day event, resulting in 4,500 meetings held at Fira de Barcelona.

The announcement ceremony of the next BIOSPAIN venue featured Jaione Ganzarain, Deputy Minister of Technology, Innovation and Digital Transformation of the Basque Government, and Cristina Múgica, Director General of Territorial Competitiveness and External Promotion of the Provincial Council of Bizkaia, along with Ion Arocena, Director General of AseBio, and Silvia Labé, Director of Marketing, Communication, and Competitive Intelligence at Biocat. Other members of the Basque delegation also attended: Cristina Oyón, Deputy Director of Spri, and Xabier Basañez, Director General of BEC.

Upon receiving the baton, Deputy Minister Ganzarain shared the honor and pleasure of hosting the event next year in the Basque Country — a milestone that, according to her, is no coincidence: “Since 2002, the Basque Autonomous Community has made a continuous commitment to life sciences and biotechnology, especially applied to health. Our commitment to socioeconomic development linked to life sciences and biotechnology is fully aligned with the European approach to reindustrialization, the recognition of the geostrategic importance of the healthcare sector, and the need to reduce external dependence across the entire biosanitary value chain.”

“First of all, we would like to congratulate AseBio for the excellent organization of this edition and for the remarkable growth in impact figures achieved, which demonstrate the increasing interest in the biotechnology sector. We would also like to thank the regional, national, and international ecosystem for their valuable participation and commitment to the conference — a key element for the success of this kind of strategic action for international positioning. Finally, we wish the best of luck to Bilbao as the next host city of the conference — which we are confident will once again be a great success — and we look forward to seeing you all again in 2027 in Barcelona,” highlighted Silvia Labé as a representative of the Regional Host Committee.

Challenges and opportunities in health, investment, and sustainability

Under the theme “Global crossroads, local vibes,” BIOSPAIN 2025 addressed the main challenges and opportunities for biotechnology in health, investment, and sustainability. Experts presented advanced therapies as a strategic pillar for European autonomy in biotechnology and healthcare, within a context where early assessment of health technologies (HTA) prevents investment in developments that do not provide real value to healthcare systems.

In terms of investment, experts advocated for the convergence of biotechnology, engineering, and digitalization as a driver of industrial transformation, alongside the need for multidisciplinary talent and collaborative frameworks that accelerate innovation. Lastly, in green biotechnology, the event explored the intersection of synthetic biology, automation, and artificial intelligence to create sustainable foods, medicines, fuels, and advanced materials.

In this way, BIOSPAIN concludes its twelfth edition as a consolidated strategic platform to strengthen public-private cooperation, promote the internationalization of biotech companies, and foster frontier research. The event has also evolved from a biennial format to an annual conference, with future editions to be held in Barcelona in 2027 and 2029.