The Eurecat technology centre today presented the opening of Eurecat in Madrid as part of its strategic commitment to be closer to its economic, business and innovation ecosystem to help fast-track technology transfer and business competitiveness in strategic areas of the productive sector such as health, aerospace, tourism innovation, energy, mobility and advanced services.
Daniel Altimiras, Chair of Eurecat, and Teresa Riesgo, Secretary General for Innovation at the Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities, kicked off the presentation in which Xavier López, Eurecat’s Chief Operating and Corporate Officer, outlined Eurecat Madrid’s strategic vision.
“I am thrilled to celebrate a momentous milestone for innovation and technological development in Spain today: the opening of Eurecat’s new headquarters in Madrid,” said Teresa Riesgo. “It represents not only the geographical expansion of one of the most important technology centres in southern Europe but also Eurecat’s robust commitment to business competitiveness, social wellbeing and equality through R&D and innovation in strategic areas of knowledge such as industry, digitalisation, health and sustainability.”
The opening of Eurecat Madrid comes as Eurecat celebrates its first decade, a period in which it “has become a leader in business innovation and one of the foremost applied research and technology transfer organisations in southern Europe,” added Daniel Altimiras.
“Today, for many companies, thinking about technological innovation in Spain increasingly means thinking about Eurecat as a key partner in successfully delivering technological innovation projects with high strategic value.
“Having a site in Madrid and keeping our local approach and regional footprint helps us stay committed to working across regions and enables us to continue delivering frontier tech to meet the specific challenges of businesses.”
With this goal in mind, “starting today and based at Eurecat Madrid, we will pull together to build a more competitive, resilient and fairer future, contributing to technological development with impact as a lever for competitiveness, sustainability and social wellbeing.”
Eurecat, a leader in technological innovation for businesses
In his speech, Xavier López identified Eurecat’s strategic drivers as “the emphasis on fast-tracking innovation in businesses and organisations and covering the entire value chain from idea to market, multi-technology and multi-sector convergence, supporting enterprises in their industrial technology scaling processes and meeting the needs of the socio-economic environment, plus Eurecat’s investment in the key factor in every single one of these processes: talent. The implementation of all these things also calls for territorial closeness and collaborative work with other ecosystem stakeholders.”
With this in mind, he said Eurecat Madrid is looking to set up “a strategic hub to shape the future and work more closely with companies to innovate with impact” after “a decade of steady growth, with critical mass, next-gen infrastructure and recognition as a trusted tech innovation partner.”
During his presentation, Xavier López shared some figures on Eurecat’s track record. It closed 2024 with €69 million in revenue and a team of 805 people from 36 countries, an economic multiplier impact of 9.37, plus more than 230 patents and 10 spin-offs totalling €14.6 million in turnover.
Eurecat’s activities “cover the entire R&D and innovation value chain, from the initial idea to pre-industrial scaling, supporting businesses throughout their transformation, strategy, processes and products,” an approach which Eurecat Madrid will bolster by “joining up science, technology, industry and the real economy.”
Eurecat Madrid also enhances Eurecat’s mission “to be a catalyst for industrial and social transformation” as shown by “the 3,200 plus businesses and government agencies that have chosen us for their innovation.”
Technology with local impact and global vision
“Our territorial coverage and international reach enable us to operate locally with a strategic vision” in which “Eurecat Madrid will be a key platform for scaling up impact, connecting ecosystems and promoting Europe, matching our technological capabilities with the region’s strategic drivers and needs,” added Xavier López.
To do this, Eurecat Madrid seeks to be a “unique, connected and complementary hub committed to fostering industrial scalability and useful, transformational innovation which is deeply embedded in the region.”
“The advent of the Eurecat technology centre in Madrid is a significant step in the highly promising partnership between entrepreneurship, innovation and industry on one side and capital, large companies and national public policy on the other,” said Jordi García-Brustenga, Director General of Industrial Strategy and Small and Medium-sized Enterprises, who closed the event with a video message welcoming Eurecat Madrid and wishing it good luck and success.
The event was hosted by Samuel Rodríguez, Director of Eurecat Madrid, and attended by José María Martell Berrocal, Vice-President of Scientific and Technical Research at the CSIC; Áureo Díaz-Carrasco, Executive Director of Fedit; Francisco Hortigüela, Chair of AMETIC, and other institutional representatives.
Sector transformations and high-impact technologies
The presentation included three thematic panels which addressed sector transformations driven by high-impact technologies from the standpoint of people, deep tech and the environment.
Based on these three strands, Eurecat experts unpacked the disruptions brought about by biotechnology, artificial intelligence, robotics and quantum technology as key drivers for advancing industrial innovation, sustainability and health.
The first thematic block was moderated by Felip Miralles, Eurecat’s Director of Health Technologies, and looked at “Lifelong Health and Wellbeing” based on cases with an impact on digital health, biotechnology and assistive technologies. It featured Maria del Carmen Pardo, Head of Innovation at the Catalan Ministry of Health; Pilar Navarro, Director of Innovation at Fenin, and César Velasco, Director of Innovation and Digital Strategy at AstraZeneca.
In the second panel, entitled “Agile Interventions: Technological Frontiers”, Gabriel Anzaldi, director of Ecosystems at Eurecat, underscored the importance of technological convergence in innovation projects. Other speakers included Daniel Serrano, Eurecat’s Director of Robotics and Automation, who talked about cognitive and autonomous robotics; Laia Garriga, Applied Artificial Intelligence Business Development Manager at Eurecat, who discussed disruptive advances in artificial intelligence and its rapid evolution in industrial applications; and Adán Garriga, head of quantum technologies at Eurecat, who outlined the opportunities in quantum computing.
“Environmental Quality and Climate Resilience” were the topics of the third panel at which Miquel Rovira, Eurecat’s Director of Sustainability, engaged in a conversation with several business leaders addressing critical issues such as decarbonisation and the circular economy. The participants included Valentín Alfaya, Director of Sustainability at Ferrovial; Ramón García, Director of CEL; Fernando Portillo, CEO at Keiken, and Esther Sánchez, Director of Operations in Madrid at Amphos 21 Consulting.
