The Basque Country Technology Park, a hub for the biotechnology industry for 25 years thanks to companies such as Progenika
The biotechnology and biosanitary company Progenika (part of the Grifols group) is celebrating its 25th anniversary since its creation at the Zamudio/Derio Campus of the Basque Technology Park.
Its location at the Zamudio/Derio Campus is part of a strategy launched by the Basque Government a quarter of a century ago to attract companies in this industrial sector, in which the Basque Country now stands out as a hub. It was in the 1990s when the attraction of companies and research centres linked to the biosciences intensified, a development that was made possible thanks to the collaboration between the Basque Government, the Provincial Council of Bizkaia and the Town Councils of Zamudio and Derio, which promoted a favourable environment for the establishment of advanced technology companies, of which Progenika is one, along with others such as CIC bioGUNE, Oncomatrix, Rubió Metabolics and CIT.
The ceremony to celebrate Progenika’s 25th anniversary was attended by the Minister of Industry, Energy Transition and Sustainability, Mikel Jauregi, as well as the Deputy General of Bizkaia, Elixabete Etxanobe, and the Mayor of Derio, Esther Apraiz. Representing the company were Antonio Martínez, President of Grifols Diagnostic, and Nacho Albia, CEO of Grifols.
‘The Basque Country is an international benchmark in the biotechnology and biomedical industry, and the Technology Park is a leading example of this. This is a hub of innovation, research and technological development that we have built with everyone’s efforts, and where today we are taking a new step forward. We are in a company that has the backing of the Grifols Group, which has been contributing to patient well-being for more than two decades, leading the transfusion medicine sector worldwide,‘ said the Minister of Industry.
’If we have learned anything from the pandemic, it is that we must strengthen our own industrial capabilities and cannot depend on third countries in times of crisis. Progenika is a good example of this lesson. From this headquarters on the Zamudio/Derio Campus, you have developed important innovations such as a test to detect the COVID virus. We are talking about technology and development made in the Basque Country. We will continue to promote inter-institutional work and public-private collaboration to further expand the capacity of the Technology Park, which is a model of success,’ concluded Jauregi.
