IRISCAT (Health Research and Innovation Institutes of Catalonia ) is a strategic alliance of health research and innovation institutes to develop a coordinated strategy to make the most of the benefits conferred by the size and high level of standards of the healthcare and research organisations in which they operate, with a view to improving translational and clinical research in the Catalan Health System and, as a result, the health of the country’s population.

Initially, IRISCAT was made up of the research institutes linked to the Catalan Health Institute: VHIR, Bellvitge Biomedical Research Institute (IDIBELL), Germans Trias i Pujol Health Research Institute (IGTP), Lleida Biomedical Research Institute (IRB Lleida), Pere Virgili Health Research Institute (IISPV), Josep Trueta Biomedical Research Institute of Girona (IDIBGI) and Jordi Gol Primary Care Institute (IDIAP Jordi Gol). Afterwards, the initiative was extended to include other research and innovation centres of the entire Catalan ecosystem, and around twenty institutions are currently members.

Through a strategy led and coordinated by the Health Department and the Directorate General of Research and Innovation, the alliance is a collective and flexible project that aims to increase its competitiveness in order to become a benchmark health research and innovation structure in Europe while aiming to improve the health of the population by promoting excellent research, emphasising translational, clinical and epidemiological research in the Catalan health system.