During the afternoon of last Thursday, November 18 and the morning of Friday, November 19, the second edition of Career Day was held, organized by IDIBELL with the support of the ICO, the University of Barcelona, the Bellvitge University Hospital and the Hospital de Viladecans. This event brought together professionals from the fields of research and business to give lectures on their specialties, all focused on innovation and entrepreneurship. The spin-offs from IDIBELL had a very important in this event, which involved the participation of some of their CEOs.
All conferences were held electronically, while Friday’s workshop was face-to-face.
To start, the inaugural ceremony took place on Thursday 18 with Gemma Via, president of the Local Innovation Committee of Bellvitge University Hospital. Shortly afterwards, the first series of talks began: Professional R&I Careers, led by Mario de la Cuesta, head of the Innovation and Business Development unit at IDIBELL. The other speakers were Dr. Manel Cascalló, expert in oncolytic therapies and gene therapy and CEO of VCNBiosciences, Dra. Gabriela Alejandra Jiménez, CEO of AtG Therapeutics, and Jessica Shull, Director of Digital Therapeutics at Vicore Pharma AB.
The next day, Friday the 19th at nine in the morning, it was time for the keynote presentation of Katharine D’Amico: How to sell your idea to your potential customers – persuasion and impact. She is a neurolinguist specializing in communication strategy at the corporate level and has worked for Nestlé, EIT, Lenovo and HP, among others. The event then moved on to the second speaker panel: How to make an academic spin-off a success, presided by Dra. Marta Barrachina, principal investigator of IDIBELL and CEO of the spin-off Admit Therapeutics. The following presentations were those of Dr. Núria Martí, director of innovation of the Biocat, and Joan Grasas, leader of entrepreneurship of the EIT Health Spain.
Finally, at 12 noon and in person at the Bellvitge Campus of the University of Barcelona, Dr. Marco Straccia, founder and CEO of SCIENCE & STRATEGY SL, conducted a workshop on Business Model Canvas, the strategic business management template.
This even takes place within the European project ISPAS – Paths to Successful Innovations, that aims to design a series of courses that will provide PhD students with tools that will help them in their professional future. It is also part of the HRS4R 2018-2022 action plan, a certificate awarded by the European Comission to IDIBELL as a favorable and stimulating workplace for researchers.
The Bellvitge Biomedical Research Institute (IDIBELL) is a biomedical research center created in 2004. It is participated by the Bellvitge University Hospital and the Viladecans Hospital of the Catalan Institute of Health, the Catalan Institute of Oncology, the University of Barcelona and the City Council of L’Hospitalet de Llobregat.
IDIBELL is a member of the Campus of International Excellence of the University of Barcelona HUBc and is part of the CERCA institution of the Generalitat de Catalunya. In 2009 it became one of the first five Spanish research centers accredited as a health research institute by the Carlos III Health Institute. In addition, it is part of the “HR Excellence in Research” program of the European Union and is a member of EATRIS and REGIC. Since 2018, IDIBELL has been an Accredited Center of the AECC Scientific Foundation (FCAECC).