Chaired by the Catalan President, Salvador Illa, the event marks a new phase in the construction of the Precision Medicine building set to strengthen collaboration among five BIST Community research centres.
President Salvador Illa during his speech at the event. Photograph: Rubén Moreno.
This morning, senior representatives of the institutions involved in the BIST Precision Medicine Hub, located within the Ciutadella del Coneixement complex in Barcelona, gathered to mark a major milestone: the beggining of the construction above the BSM parking and mobility hub. The future facility will host research groups of five BIST Community centres —the entirety of IRB Barcelona, around one third of IBEC, and groups from ICN2, ICFO, and CRG— as well as the BIST core team.
“This is a moment to celebrate, made possible thanks to the initial leadership of the BIST Foundation and a series of agreements reached by the Catalan Government and Barcelona City Council since 2019, for which we are very grateful,” explains the BIST General Director Eduard Vallory. The most recent of these agreements, signed in March 2025, entrusted the promotion of the building to the PRBB Consortium.
“The PRBB consortium was the ideal addition to this strategy, as it is an existing consortium of the Catalan Government and the Barcelona City Council already managing a biomedical research facility in the vicinity of the Antic Mercat del Peix site,” he adds. The building was initially developed by BIST, which, by 2024, had invested over €6 million—secured through public-private partnerships—in the architectural design and the construction of the building’s foundations. These funds came from an initial legacy left by Ms M. Àngels Recolons, together with agreements with the “la Caixa” Foundation and the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation, as well as support from the Government of Catalonia and Barcelona City Council.
The proximity of the new building to leading biomedical institutions —including the CRG, the Pasqual Maragall Foundation, the PRBB itself, Hospital del Mar, and a future CSIC building nearby— will strengthen synergies and contribute to the development of the Ciutadella del Coneixement complex as a leading biomedical research and innovation hub in southern Europe.
In his speech at the event, the President of the Government of Catalonia, Salvador Illa, highlighted the importance of attracting and nurturing talent: “It is essential to attract talent and to remain part of the global talent circuit in order to stay at the forefront. We are part of that circuit and are creating talent from Catalonia.”
The Mayor of Barcelona, Jaume Collboni, also emphasised the broader societal impact of research, stating: “More research means greater well-being for people and for the planet.”
The building, expected to be completed by the end of 2028, will host approximately 950 BIST Community research professionals working to advance the frontiers of knowledge in precision medicine.
This initiative is a cornerstone of a broader programme in precision medicine currently being developed by a task force with representatives from the seven BIST Community centres, first presented at the BIST Forum 2025.
