The TIC Salut Social Foundation strengthens Catalonia’s innovation ecosystem at 4YFN 2026

The TIC Salut Social Foundation has once again played a leading role at 4YFN 2026 for the third consecutive year, driving the Catalonia Health Innovation Ecosystem—a flagship space that connects research and entrepreneurship with scalable impact across the health and social innovation systems.

With this new edition, 4YFN reaffirms Catalonia’s position as one of Europe’s leading innovation hubs, capable of attracting talent, investment and emerging projects in a highly competitive environment.

This space, jointly promoted with Biocat and supported by key stakeholders from the health and social sectors, has become an international platform to showcase the country’s most innovative talent and initiatives.

The 2026 edition delivered a programme focused on the current challenges of innovation and its deployment within public administrations. This approach reinforces the visibility and impact of professionals and organisations that are part of the Catalan health and social services system.

A programme that gives a transversal voice to key innovation stakeholders

The Foundation is responsible for designing the programme architecture and curating its content, structured across different spaces and formats to foster connections between supply and demand, and to promote knowledge and technology transfer. Over the four days of the congress, the pavilion hosted sessions, debates and networking activities aimed at boosting collaboration between startups, spin-offs, institutions and companies.

The members of the Foundation’s Board actively contributed to energising the programme and strengthening the ecosystem, articulating a shared narrative from different perspectives:

The Catalan Health Institute (ICS) and the TIC Salut Social Foundation, representing the Catalan Health Service and the Department of Health, moderated talks, presentations and pitching sessions focused on disruptive and pioneering projects in Catalonia. Topics included innovation adoption, the development of the European Health Data Space, and the transfer and scalability of spin-offs emerging from leading public hospital research centres.

La Unió highlighted a human-centred approach to innovation, promoting models that facilitate the adoption of technology solutions focused on people.

The CSC enabled the participation of professionals and affiliated organisations, fostering knowledge exchange and connections with the latest sector trends, while also reflecting on lessons learned in scaling innovation.

ACES organised a startup pitching competition to identify promising initiatives and give visibility to transformative entrepreneurial models in healthcare.

The Third Sector Social Platform, through m4Social and in collaboration with the Social and Health Innovation Hub (HISS), helped position social innovation as a central topic of discussion through a networking session and the presentation of five standout innovative projects.

This joint effort demonstrates the capacity of the Catalan system to act in a coordinated way and generate real impact in transforming care services in favour of people.

A positive balance confirming growth

The 2026 edition of 4YFN closes with a positive balance, reflecting increased activity compared to 2025. This value proposition contributes to attracting talent and generating strategic connections and synergies within the ecosystem:

• 1,300 accredited professionals, compared to 850 in 2025

• 35 participating startups, compared to 16 in 2025

• 7 networking sessions, compared to 2 in 2025

• A total of 20 digital health projects and 10 social innovation projects