600 startups participating at Barcelona Deep Tech Summit

Around 600 startups are attending the Barcelona Deep Tech Summit from today until Thursday, which will take place at the Gran Via venue of the Fira.

Deep tech companies are startups that work with groundbreaking technology and engineering, typically with the aim of a long-term impact in their particular fields. 

The Barcelona Deep Tech Summit tradeshow is expected to attract over 2,500 visitors.

The deep tech sector has 340 emerging companies in Catalonia, according to the ACCIÓ 2024 report.

The conference is promoted by Barcelona Activa, which has assisted 212 of these companies, and of which 93 have raised €174 million in public and private funding.

Barcelona Activa highlights that it is a growing sector that is “fundamental for Europe’s competitiveness,” in order to stop depending on third countries.

The majority of these companies are dedicated to the areas of health and life sciences, and information and communication technologies.

Nimble Diagnostics is one of the most promising Catalan deep tech companies, which will soon move to the Barcelona Activa Technology Park in Nou Barris. They expect to close a financing round of €12 million soon.

The startup is a spin-off of the Germans Trias i Pujol Research Institute (IGTP), the Polytechnic University of Catalonia (UPC), and the University of Barcelona (UB), and works on developing technology to control metal implants through microwaves, and aims to reach the market in 2028.

These stents are one of the most commonly implanted medical devices in the world due to their ability to restore the correct flow of blood or other fluids, particularly effective in treating cardiovascular diseases.

Nimble Diagnostics has tested its technology in preclinical stages with mice and pigs, and earlier this year successfully completed their first test on humans.

Growing sector

"Deep tech is a growing sector and is essential for Europe's competitiveness to stop being dependent on third countries," said the director of Services to companies at Barcelona Activa, Juan Baselga.

He points out that these companies need support, financing, and visibility to become successful.

Baselga details that Barcelona Activa offers 'deep tech' entrepreneurial support programs and services, business accommodation services, promotion and networking services, and also financing.

The main objectives are to facilitate access to financing, reduce market entry times, complement entrepreneurial teams with business profiles and generate meeting points between the ecosystem to identify business opportunities.