On December 10, and organized by IDIBELL as the promoting entity, the II Assembly of XarSMART took place, an initiative of the Catalan ecosystem of life sciences and health that seeks to train the territory by increasing the transfer of high-level projects to the market.
The event, held at the Bellvitge Cultural Center, began with an institutional welcome by Miguel Ángel Souto, director of the XarSMART and the Innovation and Business Development area of IDIBELL. Next, Pablo Estañol, Laia Traveset and Gisela Gallego, members of this IDIBELL department, presented the tools offered by XarSMART: the Self-Diagnosis Kit, a questionnaire aimed at researchers to assess the status of their project and provide a series of recommendations and specific observations; GRANTZILLA, a platform for searching for grant using artificial intelligence; and SMARTropolis, the city of knowledge in biomedical innovation where courses and presentations will be given.
This was followed by the Industry Board on Live, with the participation of Antonio Parente, Marta Palicio and Xavier Ventura under the moderation of Gisela Gallego. The session included the presentation of three projects that were evaluated live: e-DietBase, by Dr. Nancy Babio; Wireless Remote Control of Pain, presented by Dr. Francisco Ciruela; and AIMS-OD, presented by Dr. Natalia Estrada. The Industry Board’s findings focused on two aspects: the patient/user and the market. Regarding the patient/user, the researchers were urged to define who will be the user of the solutions, in order to incorporate their needs into the final product. Also, to take into account their experience in the use of the products generated. As for the market, the debate was wide-ranging. The two main contributions were to define who will pay for the product, and to ensure that the solution presents a differential value proposition with respect to those already available in the market.
Subsequently, Anna Sánchez spoke about internationalization with Eatris, and Domènec Huguet gave a presentation on how to transform an idea into a business in competitive environments. The day also included the interactive session “How much do you know about innovation?” and ended with the closing by Dr. Gabriel Capellá, director of IDIBELL.
Led by IDIBELL with the financial support of AGAUR, XarSMART has a team of proven advisors and an industry board. Its objective is to play the role of a valorization and transfer network, and to work with the aim of increasing the market value of the Personalized Precision Medicine (MPP), digital health and biomedical data science projects of its members.
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).