The Severo Ochoa Centres of Excellence and María de Maeztu Units of Excellence Alliance (SOMMa), together with the  Centre for Genomic Regulation (CRG), are organising the SOMMa Connect event, which will take place on 22 and 23 September 2026 at the PRBB Auditorium in Barcelona.

SOMMa Connect is a high-level meeting that will bring together scientific and business leaders, investors, and institutional representatives with the aim of promoting knowledge transfer, innovation, and the economic impact of research.

KEY DATES

Registration opens
29 April 2026
Registration closes
31 July 2026
Event dates
22–23 September 2026
Barcelona · PRBB

PROGRAMME

Day 1 22 September 2026
11:00–12:00

Registration

12:00–12:30

Official opening

SOMMa Presidency · CRG Directorate, host centre

12:30–13:30

Opening keynote

José Moisés Martín Carretero ↗ · Director General of CDTI

13:30–15:00

Networking lunch & poster session

SOMMa success stories

15:00–17:00

Investment Pitch Session

4 parallel panels

Click on a panel to explore its projects ↓

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HealthTech

MiCRC: Microbiome-AI screening for colorectal cancer and precancerous lesions

Toni Gabaldón · Fundació Institut de Recerca Biomèdica (IRB Barcelona)

Cancer Vaccine: Reprogramming tumour cells into antigen-presenting cells

Thomas Graf · Centre de Regulació Genomica (CRG)

Aurkines: New strategy for naïve and cisplatin-resistant solid tumours

Irene Olaizola · Fundación Donostia International Physics Center

PIAS2b-siRNA: Gene silencing for anaplastic and undifferentiated carcinomas

Clara Álvarez · CiMUS · Centro de Investigación en Medicina Molecular y Enfermedades Crónicas

PROMETHENZ: Local activation of chemotherapy in pancreatic cancer

Valeria Grazú · Instituto de Nanotecnología y Materiales de Aragón (INMA UNIZAR-CSIC)

🌱

Agro-Food & CleanTech

ARIES for Business

Antonella de Ceano · Basque Centre for Climate Change

Celiacase: the gluten-degrading enzyme

Francisco J. Pérez · Instituto de Investigación en Nutrición y Seguridad Alimentaria

CO2 valorization by magnetic induction

Pascual Oña · Instituto de Tecnología Química (ITQ)

SEMICON BIOSOLUTIONS

Fernando León · Centro de Biotecnología y Genómica de Plantas (CBGP)

Siembras de Origen

Miguel Fernández · Instituto de Agroquímica y Tecnología de Alimentos

⚙️

DeepTech & Advanced Engineering

PulSensing: Electronics for medical imaging and beyond

Óscar de la Torre · Institut de Ciències del Cosmos

Eroica Dx: Photonics for Precision Diagnostics

Laura Lechuga / María Soler · Instituto Catalán de Nanociencia y Nanotecnología

NANO-RNA: A non-viral platform for primary cell transfection and RNA-based therapies

María José Alonso · Universidade de Santiago de Compostela (USC)

PlasmOnCo: Plasma-treated hydrogels for the local treatment of solid tumors

Adrià Barceló · Centre de Recerca en Ciència i Enginyeria Multiescala (CCEM-UPC)

SiCure: Precise real-time radiotherapy monitoring

Alejandro Espín · Instituto de Microelectrónica de Barcelona (IMB-CNM)

🌍

Better Societies

JEPMEN: Journaling through E-coaching to Promote Mental Health

Batuhan Sayis · Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Department of Information and Communication Technologies

Famba: A global surveillance and data analytics platform for prediction and prevention of emerging diseases

José Muñoz · Instituto de Salud Global de Barcelona (ISGlobal)

MoodNG: Bacterial strain selection for next-generation psychobiotics

Albert García-Valiente · Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Department of Medicine and Life Sciences (MELIS-UPF)

Helix: A new personalised AI-based computational platform to longitudinally monitor healthspan and aging

Salvador Aznar Benitah · Institute for Research in Biomedicine (IRB Barcelona)

PRECISION-CHEMO: A first-in-class, tumour-agnostic chemotherapy resistance test

Bruna Calsina · Centro Nacional de Investigaciones Oncologicas (CNIO)

17:00–18:30

Workshop Inspirations

Daniel Ramón ↗

19:00–21:00

Evening networking

Day 2 23 September 2026
09:30–10:15

Opening keynote

Asier Rufino ↗ · The Tecnalia model: enabling ecosystems for collaboration with industry

10:15–11:00

Round table

Successful public-private partnerships at SOMMa

Moderator: Jorge Barrero ↗

  1. Mabel Loza — Innopharma · CiMUS & Juan Buela — SunrockPharma
  2. Arantza Ugalde — ICM & Andrea Gonzalez Vaude — Repsol
  3. José Luis Cortina — CCEM · UPC & Marina Arnaldos — Cetaqua
11:00–11:30

Coffee break & networking

11:30–12:30

Round table

Financing Vehicles for Innovation

Moderator: Anabel Sanz

  1. David González — European Investment Fund (EIF)
  2. Luis Jesús Guerra — European Innovation Council (EIC)
  3. Elisa Rivera — Spanish Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities
  4. Anna Bellmunt — Asabys Partners
  5. Jordi Vallès — ”la Caixa” Foundation
12:30–13:15

Closing keynote

Elisa Rivera · General Director for Planning, Coordination and Knowledge Transfer of the Spanish Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities

13:15–13:30

Official closing and final remarks

SOMMa Presidency