On March 9 Biopol’H participated in the setting-up of the plenary session of the HUB^c (Health University of Barcelona Campus), which in October won the recognition of International Campus of Excellence given by the Ministry of Science and Innovation and the Ministry of Education.

The plenary was chaired by the vice-chancellor of the University of Barcelona, Dídac Ramírez, and carried out for the first time after receiving the distinction of International Campus of Excellence.  Including grants and loans the HUB^c will administer a total amount of 13.5 million euros. To be more accurate the funds allocated in the 2010 edition of the International Campus of Excellence Programme of the Ministry of Education make a total of half a million euros in subsidies. Likewise, 10 million euros have been granted in credit within the INNOCAMPUS Programme of the Ministry of Education and Science. The Ministry of Education has also awarded 3 million in loans provided by the Government of Catalonia.

Biopol’H obtains 3.8 million euros out of these funds, which are distributed as follows: 68,000 euros will be earmarked for the Health Meeting Point, Show Room Innovation of the Bellvitge University Hospital, 550,000 euros for the Institute for Bioengineering of Catalonia (IBEC), 100,000 for the feasibility study of a residence around the Bellvitge Campus, 80,000 for the feasibility study for developing a vocational training centre in the Bellvitge Health Science Campus, 1.5 million for classrooms in the Bellvitge Campus, and 1.5 million euros for the research centres project of the Consortium Biopol'H.

Representatives of the thirty organizations that are part of HUBc attended the ceremony, among these were the mayoress of L'Hospitalet, Nuria Marín; the mayor of Sant Boi, Jaume Bosch; the delegate of the State at the Consortium of the Zona Franca, Manuel Royes; the General Director of Universities, Claudi Alsina; the General Manager of Regulation, Planning and Health Resources, Joaquim Esperalba; the General Manager of the laboratories Ferrer Grupo, Jordi Ramentol; the General Manager of the University Hospital Clinic of Barcelona, ​​Josep Piqué and lastly Ramon Lopez, director of Biopol'H.

As Dídac Ramírez explained, “the HUB^c can be summarized in three concepts: health - the motto which is actually the final goal -, cooperation between public administrations, companies and universities, and wealth creation and economic development. Therefore, Catalonia can become even more an international reference in the field of health.”

In addition to the setting-up of the plenary, which enabled to set out the Strategic Plan, in the second part of the meeting they also put forward the Work Plan for 2011 and established the Governance Committee. The HUB^c will have an "unprecedented" governance model – as the vice-chancellor pointed out – in which public administrations, companies and universities will make decisions altogether hand in hand.

According to the vice-chancellor of the UB, Spanish and Catalan universities have a problem: research is rarely translated into innovation. In this sense, to increase the number of patents is one of its objectives of the HUB^c project.

Being the head of the University of Barcelona at the HUB^c, Dr Josep Samitier renewed his position as a coordinator and even so, Ernest Trias was appointed as senior technician for the project.

Biopol’H will take part and have delegation both in the Plenary and the Governance Committee of the HUB^c.