The Basque Country aspires to be an international benchmark in health research

• The Health Research Institutes of Osakidetza renew their strategy and launch a new brand to coordinate and lead health research in the Basque Country: BIO (Berrikuntza Ikerketa Osasuna - Innovation, Health, Research)
• The Basque Country currently has 3,000 female researchers, 900 active projects, 132 research groups and 65% female research staff
• The Basque Health Research Day, inaugurated by Gotzone Sagardui, Minister of Health, this morning at the Palacio Europa and attended by more than 300 people, serves as a framework for the presentation of the transformation of the institutes and the advances in research

With the aim of making the Basque Country an international benchmark in health research, the Department of Health and the Basque Health Foundation BIOEF, which coordinates and leads the research of the 4 Basque public health research institutes, have decided to promote transformation of research which means a change in the name, brand image and visualisation of health research in the Basque Country.

From now on, the BIO brand, which will continue to unite all Basque Health Research, has a new graphic image and the names of the three historical territories acquire a new prominence. The names of the Osakidetza research institutes have been changed. Biodonostia is renamed Biogipuzkoa, Biocruces will now be Biobizkaia and Bioaraba keeps its current name.

Each of them will coordinate the research that is carried out in their historical territory, grouping all the research personnel, who will now be identified and recognised under the new brand.

In addition, the Kronikgune Research Institute changes its name to Biosistemak and evolves from research into chronic illnesses to focus on research in Health Systems. The institutes are led by four women, leaders in their field and benchmarks at the international level: Marian García Fidalgo (Bioaraba), Mar Mendibe (Biobizkaia), Itziar Vergara (Biogipuzkoa) and Ane Fullaondo (Biosistemak).

Goal: To promote networking and greater importance in the international scientific landscape

The Department of Health, through the 2025 Innovation Strategy, has decided to promote the development of a new stage in health research in the Basque Country that aims to promote a vision of research that starts at the local level, then reaches the global level and aims to give back the achievements of citizens and the whole of Basque society, continuing the path travelled for more than a decade, through cooperation between the institutes themselves and with the country's business and scientific-technological ecosystem.

In addition, it will enhance the networking of research institutes, so that they advance in a coordinated manner and achieve greater importance in the international scientific landscape.

Basque health research in figures

Currently, the Basque health research institutes have more than 3,000 people as research staff, 65% of whom are women. The Basque Country leads cutting-edge research in Europe with nearly 900 active research projects, 52 of them European, of which 7 are led and coordinated from the Basque Country.

Basque health research has 132 research groups. In addition, it works on 1,738 research initiatives thanks to all its own studies and clinical trials.

Regarding the production of quality scientific publications, it has reached the level of excellence with 1,348 citable scientific publications, of which 54.2% have been in high-impact journals with a Q1 rating.

Regarding joint projects with companies and scientific-technological agents, it has carried out 136 active projects with 74 companies, of which 53 are Basque SMEs under the Medtech program where 73 projects have been carried out for the development and validation of new products.

As for the transition to production, the portfolio of research results in the Basque public system includes 55 developments, of which 30 families of patents are available.

The total budget of the Health Research Institutes and BIOEF as a whole was 41.4 million euros in 2022, of which about 50% has been achieved thanks to external financing.

1st Basque Health Research Conference

The Basque Health Research Conference aims to be an exponent of the panorama of health research in our environment. Inaugurated this morning by the Minister of Health Gotzone Sagardui and attended by more than 300 people, it presented the news regarding the changes in name, corporate image and visualisation in the public research institutes of the Basque Country. In addition, the conference has become a forum to communicate and reflect on the main lines of developments of Basque research in the field of health.

Advances in neuroscience and mental health were presented at the Palacio Europa, the venue of the Conference. These are fields in which the Basque Country is a pioneer in the country and leads numerous international projects. The main initiatives in the area of research in Primary Care in Osakidetza focused on ageing and improving the quality of life were also presented, as well as the programmes that promote the incorporation of the patient into research and innovation through projects such as BioHackLab: an open health Innovation Laboratory conceived by and for patients.

New developments regarding research into Health Systems were also presented, in which the Basque Country leads European projects and actions such as digital transformation, which includes unique clinical history, health portfolio, etc. and in which Osakidetza is an international pioneer. This coupled with the development of good practices in health care in chronic patients that are a model in Europe, in oncological screening, as well as leadership in a new strategic model of medicine based on patient value.