The Government mobilizes 104 million euros to build the future Barcelona Biomedical Research Park.

BarcelonaAlmost three years have passed since the first step was taken toward making the Ciutadella del Conocimiento mega-project a reality on the site of the former Mercat del Peix, next to Barcelona Park. Now, the start of its activity seems closer than ever with the government's financial support for one of its core projects: the creation of the new Barcelona Biomedical Research Park (PRBB). According to government spokesperson Silvia Paneque, the Generalitat (Catalan government) will fund €104 million for the construction of this building, which will be dedicated to advanced research in regenerative and precision medicine and will be essential for promoting this new hub of science—biomedicine, biodiversity, and planetary well-being—and urban knowledge.

Paneque has specified that of the 104 million euros that have been authorized by the executive, 60 million will come from the granting of a loan from the Generalitat to the PRBB Consortium - which will be responsible for managing the future building -, and the other 44 will be financed from contributions2 from the department of and in 2029. This subsidy from the Government allows a step forward in the completion of the construction project and the start of the activity of the macro-complex, which will have a surface area of 46,000 square meters and three research buildings, and which will house 1,200 researchers.

The project is promoted by Pompeu Fabra University (UPF), the Institute of Evolutionary Biology (IBE CSIC-UPF), and the PRBB, which is currently physically connected to the Hospital del Mar, just over a kilometer from where it is expected to be permanently installed. The objective is to transform Ciutadella Park into a reference center of scientific knowledge to reinforce Catalonia's leadership in the field of international biomedical research.

The building dedicated to regenerative medicine research (the new PRBB) will be the largest of all, with almost 25,000 square meters, and will house around 800 researchers and around sixty research groups from four BIST centers (CRG, IBEC, ICN2, and IRB Barcelona).

Two new buildings

The second building in the Ciutadella del Conocimiento macro-project will house the UPF Center for Research and Innovation for Planetary Well-being. It will have a surface area of 7,300 square meters and will be a meeting point for researchers from different areas of knowledge, from experimental and social sciences to the humanities. The center seeks to develop interdisciplinary projects to address areas such as planetary health, artificial intelligence, economics and governance of climate change, and law and globalization.

But there is a third building, which will be the headquarters of the IBE, a joint research center created by UPF and the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC) in 2008. In this case, the building will have 6,500 square meters and will house the entire research team, including the research team focused on evolution and biodiversity.