9-10 November 2021 | Live virtual conference
Join the innovators shaping the future of health in our global 2-day virtual conference
Join the Health Revolution
Invest in Innovation brings together leading investors and founders from around the health and technology space to set the agenda for the next stage in healthcare innovation.
Meet the founders transforming biotech, pharma, AI, digital health and medtech, alongside the investors and policymakers setting the stage to take these start-ups to the next level.
Over the past 8 years, the global Innovation Forum network has featured the most vibrant health-tech ecosystems in Europe and is proud to highlight Barcelona as one of the fastest-growing European ecosystems in 2021 in this 2-day virtual conference.
In a nutshell
500+
Attendees
150+
Startups
represented
150+
Investors
30+
Countries
represented
Why Invest in Innovation?
The past year has seen the largest globally coordinated efforts of scientists, policymakers and investments in history to tackle an unprecedented challenge. As we emerge on the other side, a key question is: what’s next?
How do we take this momentum and combine it with the maturation of gene technologies, AI, cell therapies and advanced devices to catapult the next generation of healthcare start-ups?
Join the leading founders, investors and decision-makers to scope out the next major opportunities and shape the next stage of health-related start-ups.
Why Barcelona?
With the Catalonia ‘Bioregion’ launching one new company a week, it is clear that this ecosystem is a growing opportunity for healthcare investment.
Invested capital in the Bioregion has doubled over the last 2 years with a 5x increase of international investments.
Being part of the ecosystem for over 5 years, the Innovation Forum is superbly positioned to highlight this ecosystem with an international perspective, creating strong connections between the region and other global ecosystems.
Day 1
Introduction
14:00
CET
Keynote - Making Spain an European Innovation Hub
14:15
CET
Panel - Innovating under pressure: lessons and long-term impact of COVID-19
14:45
CET
Panel - How to cook a start-up: the Spanish recipe
14:45
CET
Break / Networking
15:30
CET
Keynote - Josep Santfeliu, Founder of Asabys Partners
16:00
CET
Fireside chat - Big tech in health - perspectives from leading health and life sciences at IBM
16:30
CET
Panel - Neurotechnolgy: a new paradigm for interfacing with the human body?
17:00
CET
Panel - The dos and don’ts of investing in University spinouts
17:00
CET
Break / Investor-only session
17:40
CET
Pitching session - Seed
18:10
CET
Fireside chat - From founder to IPO to serial founder - a story in digital health
19:00
CET
End of day networking
19:10
CET
Day 2
Day 2 Introduction
14:00
CET
Panel - Barcelona: shaping an ecosystem
14:10
CET
Panel - Beyond empty promises: the truth behind building an AI-driven company
14:10
CET
Series A Pitching Session
14:50
CET
Break/ Networking Session
15:35
CET
Fireside Chat with Lifebit
16:00
CET
Panel - Do Advanced Therapies need advanced considerations?
16:30
CET
Short break
17:10
CET
IMAGINE IF! finals
17:20
CET
Closing Fireside chat with Bill Liao
19:00
CET
Closing remarks
19:30
CET
End of day networking
19:40
CET
Agenda
Themes
Theme 1
Barcelona as an Innovation Hub
Hear from the leaders who have shaped Barcelona into a major European innovation hub.
From high-level policymakers to successful entrepreneurs, hear the stories of how this ecosystem has planted its roots and now rapidly growing and flourishing.
Theme 2
HealthTech & Life Science investments
We will explore the current investment vehicles and opportunities both in the Barcelona region and more broadly in the European landscape in HealthTech, biotech and med-tech.
You'll discover key insights into investing in different ecosystems, the developing regulations being introduced to address new challenges, and how these may affect you and your company.
Theme 3
Emerging Trends in Health
We gather key opinion leaders in academia, successful start-ups and leading companies to discuss the vast emergence of new opportunities across biotech, health tech and med-tech fueled by innovative research and visionary entrepreneurs.
Theme 4
Start-up Pitching
Hear from the most talented and passionate founders aspiring to transform the industry with their groundbreaking technologies.
From seed to Series A, we’ll present a range of opportunities culminating in our IMAGINE IF! accelerator final where our global top 15 startups will pitch to win non-dilutive funding having been gone through multiple stages of evaluation in our local hubs around the world.
Make Meaningful Connections
Networking is a crucial part of any conference.
We're dedicated to giving you the best virtual networking experience possible by offering a smart and searchable networking platform with AI-powered matchmaking to enable you to connect, chat, book meetings, and foster meaningful connections within the conference platform.
We are organizing start-ups and exhibitor booths, live Q&As, dedicated networking rooms, parallel sessions, private sessions and networking breaks.
Advisory Committee
It's been an absolutely fantastic opportunity to come here and see innovation happening on the ground