On 18 September last, in Granada and accompanied by four other Spanish autonomous regions, the Basque Country presented the Spanish Bioregions Network (RBR), of which it is a founder member. The event took place within the framework of the BioSpain 2008 congress, the largest forum devoted to biotechnology in Southern Spain and held in the said Andalusian city from 17 to 19 September.

The purpose of the project, which is promoted by the Catalan and Basque bioregions, Biocat and BioBasque, is to give a new, strong boost to the development of biotechnology. RBR, in which the Madrid, Andalusian, and Valencian bioregions are also taking part, represents a turning point in the sector and responds to the need to create an instrument that brings together the Spanish bioclusters and facilitates the coordination of initiatives and interlocution between autonomous communities and central government concerning the development of the biotechnology sector and biosciences.

The RBR is composed of the bioregions which have been formed in Spain to date: BioBasque in the Basque Country, the Andalusian Bioregion, Biocat in Catalonia, Madrid Biocluster in the Community of Madrid and Bioval in the Valencian Community. Nonetheless, the idea is for other organisations to also join the project in the future, such as in the case of the Canary Islands Bioregion, Extremadura Bioregion, Aragon Bioregion, Navarra Bioregion and Balearic Islands Bioregion.

Presentation of the Network was one of the milestones for the Basque Bioregion at the BioSpain 2008 congress, which was attended by a large delegation headed by the BioBasque Agency. More specifically, the 16 companies present at BioSpain 2008 were: Abyntek Biopharma, Biobide, Bioftalmik, Biolan, DRO Biosystems, Histocell, Inteman, Noraybio, Pharmakine, Progenika Biopharma, Vacunek, Vita Aidelos, Innoprot, Owl Genomics, A&B Laboratorios and Guserbiot.

In addition, the delegation included the head of the Basque Technology Park Network, Julián Sánchez, the manager of the BioBasque Agency, María Aguirre, as well as representatives of universities, technology centres, business incubators, companies such as Grupo Mondragón and venture capital companies such as Talde and Ysios.