With a staff of over 38,000 professionals, the Catalan Health Institute is the largest public health service in Catalonia and provides health care to nearly six million users across the country. It currently manages eight hospitals (Vall d’Hebron, Bellvitge Trias, Arnau de Vilanova in Lleida, Tarragona Joan XXIII, Josep Trueta in Girona, Verge de la Cinta de Tortosa Viladecans) and 287 primary care teams, three of which through a partnership with the Hospital Clínic of Barcelona and a quarter with another partnership with the city of Castelldefels.

As a benchmark within the public health system, the objective of the ICS is to contribute to improving the health and quality of life of people through the provision of healthcare services and in the lens of innovative excellence. This covers both the promotion of health and the prevention and treatment of diseases, from the most complex to the most prevalent.

In addition to medical care, ICS developed a scientific activity through the seven research institutes integrated into hospitals and primary care. In the field of teaching, ICS has  2,300 specialists in their centers from 51 different areas and specialties in health sciences. It also has more than 4,500 undergraduate students in medicine, nursing, dentistry and other teachings. In addition, ICS conducts intense and continuous training for all professional groups.

Vall d’Hebron University Hospital, the leading hospital complex in Catalonia is one of the largest in Spain with a total of more than 1400 beds and it is a leader in biomedical research at a national and European level. We are working to achieve a direct translation from research to applications. Our research is focused on solving human health problems and on improvement of healthcare. At the same time, we resolutely encourage the tasks of valuation and transfer of research results to the industry and biomedical companies. Innovation is the core of our activity, not only understood as processes of innovation, information technologies’ innovation or knowledge in biomedical research transfer, but innovation derived from the incorporation of new technologies and from daily healthcare practice.

Vall d’Hebron University Hospital, the leading hospital complex in Catalonia is one of the largest in Spain with a total of more than 1400 beds and is a leader centre in biomedical research at a national and European scope. We are working to achieve a direct translation from research to applications. Our research is focused on solving human health problems and on healthcare improvement. At the same time, we resolutely encourage the tasks of valuation and transfer of research results to the industry and biomedical companies. Innovation is the core of our activity, not only understood as processes of innovation, information technologies’ innovation or knowledge in biomedical research transfer, but innovation derived from the incorporation of new technologies and from daily healthcare practice.