The Diplomat
The Spanish National Research Council (CISC) and the Spanish Agency for International Development Cooperation (AECID) have launched the Ibero-American Network of Advanced Therapies, an initiative to improve healthcare and professional training in Ibero-American healthcare systems.
The network has been created within the framework of the Plan for the Transfer, Exchange and Management of Knowledge for the Development of Spanish Cooperation in Latin America and the Caribbean – INTERCOONECTA, which “seeks to respond to the needs of a Latin America and the Caribbean in profound transformation and to the renewal of Spanish Cooperation in the region,” said the CSIC in a press release.
The main objective of the initiative is to improve healthcare and the training of its professionals through technology transfer, legislative development and the promotion of R&D&I in Ibero-American healthcare systems. It also aims to establish permanent communication networks between researchers and healthcare personnel from different countries, facilitate the exchange of personnel between institutions, provide institutions with management tools to carry out exchanges and promote the creation of financing programs.
“The main idea is to ensure that no one is left behind, to bridge the scientific and technological gap in access to new advanced therapies and to promote the exchange of knowledge in the area of regenerative medicine, gene and cell therapy and their clinical application in Ibero-America,” explained CSIC researcher Daniel Bachiller, from the Margarita Salas Biological Research Center (CIB-CSIC), who coordinates the Spanish institution’s participation in the network.
To give continuity to the network, the CSIC and the AECID are organizing the online Workshop on Intellectual Property Protection in Advanced Therapies, aimed at participants from all Ibero-American countries, from July 18 to 29.
