Àngels López

Last week more than 50 people attended a special event organised by IBEC, “Advancing Gender Equality and Diversity in Science”. The morning of talks and discussions aimed to raise awareness and reflect on how to balance gender equality, and particularly how institutions, as well as society in general, can address such issues via best practices or other strategies.

The proceedings began with a look at gender and aging stereotypes in society and specifically in science and advertising by marketing and communications consultant Montse Montllau, followed by an examination by CRG Group Leader Dr. Mara Dierssen of more science-based issues such as bias in publishing papers, raising funds and recruitment procedures.

IBEC has become a partner in the Red de Innovación en Tecnologías Médicas y Sanitarias (ITEMAS), an innovation network for medical and health technologies.

ITEMAS, promoted by the Instituto de Salud Carlos III (ISCIII), brings 95 companies and organizations together with 66 medical centres in Spain to collaborate on R+D projects. The partners will also work together on outreach initiatives.

Barcelona is playing host to EIT Health’s very first Summit this week, the highlight of its first year of activities.

IBEC is a core partner in the €2.1 billion Knowledge and Innovation Community (KIC), one of the largest public funded initiatives for health worldwide, with IBEC director Josep Samitier on the Supervisory Board. Barcelona is one of EIT Health’s co-location centers, with the initiative’s Spanish headquarters based at the PCB.

The EIT Health Summit, which is taking place on 23rd-24th November at CosmoCaixa, will bring together up to 350 participants from among the initiative’s partner organisations, education programmes and external stakeholders.