"Working in biotechnology means working to improve the planet and people's lives, as it has an impact on 14 of the 17 sustainable development goals of the diary 2030", stressed Ion Arocena, director general of the association Spanish Biocompanies (AseBio), in a talk aimed at students of Degrees and postgraduate healthcare programs at the University of Navarra. This is the first event organized in the framework of the agreement signed by 3P and the School of Pharmacy and Nutrition of the University of Navarra to promote the training and research in technology and production of new drugs, especially biotechnological ones, and which also includes scholarships and prizes for the most outstanding students.

During the lecture, The biotechnology sector, an industry of opportunities, Arocena pointed out the wide spectrum of sectors involved in biotechnology and its great transforming capacity, both in the health sector, to which 65% of the associated companies belong, and in the specialized services sector (30%), the agri-food sector (14%) or the industrial biotechnology sector (10%).

According to a study by AseBio, working in the biotechnology sector means being in a sector that employs around 0.6% of the active people in Spain and with an economic impact of 0.7% of the national GDP. Investment in research and development in biotechnology, in permanent growth since 2013, is "at historic highs", highlights Ion Arocena, "we are a sector that moves and channels large investments to generate sustainable economic growth and employment quality. We have brilliant university talent with a high participation of women, 60% in 2018, and the productivity and salary per employee of the "biotech" is three times higher than that of the whole Economics".

Regarding the opportunities for work, Arocena highlighted the need for specialists, both in research centers and universities and in biotechnology companies, in positions such as development business, marketing and sales, policy and public affairs or regulatory (work in the political and regulatory context of the activity), management of the research and development or scientific communication, operations and quality, or new technologies and digitization, a transversal discipline that is fundamentally aimed at the optimization and automation of processes.

He also mentioned another subject of business entities, such as industrial property agencies, where the sector offers opportunities as a patent technician; as well as consultancies and companies of advisory service scientific or venture capital, for advice or assessment of biotechnological business projects; alluding also to the need for specialists in the field of diplomacy and international organizations.

"Establishing this first channel between academia and business, which is what 3P and the University have done now, is fundamental to allow students to make the leap into this biotech world, which is still alien to them," concluded the lecturer.

agreement between 3P and the University of Navarra

In her speech to present the agreement between 3P and the University of Navarra, Elena Erroba, director of development of Business in 3P Biopharmaceuticals explained that 3P will award during the next academic year 2021-2022 two prizes of 500€ to the best work of end of Degree (TFG) on Biotechnology topics in the degree program of Pharmacy and to the best work of end of master (TFM) in the Master's Degree of design Galenic and Manufacturing in the Pharmaceutical Industry (MDGFI) of the School of Pharmacy. In addition, the students of this Master's Degree will be eligible for an scholarship of 2000 € accompanied by the possibility of a one-year paid internship at 3P.

On the other hand, and in her commitment to the development of the research in the field of biotechnology, Elena Erroba added that 3P is committed to providing specific equipment to the university for MDGFI students and "we will continue to organize informative talks and seminars on biotechnology such as the one given today by Ion Arocena, director general of AseBio", she emphasized.