The Master's Degree in Health Innovation and Entrepreneurship, organized by the Vall d'Hebron Research Institute (VHIR), a center attached to the Autonomous University of Barcelona (UAB), is a new program aimed at creating entrepreneurial profiles and specialists in the management of innovation and entrepreneurship in healthcare. The degree has already opened the pre-registration for the first edition.

The program is aimed at training professionals with a clear focus on the generation of value and business, intrinsically linked to the needs of the health system and the market, and with creative and innovative thinking that allows them to develop their entrepreneurial skills. The program is oriented to promote new solutions that impact the health system, from the generation of knowledge and the development of new products, technologies and services.

Students will obtain a generalized vision and knowledge of health innovation systems, will learn about the main global challenges in health, the diversity of agents involved and the main tools and resources for promoting innovation. In addition, four specialization courses that are part of the Master's program can be followed individually: Innovation strategies, Models and methodologies in Health, Valorisation and technology transfer, Entrepreneurship: Self leadership and soft skills and Entrepreneurship: Spin-off and start-up companies creation. Within the framework of the Master's Final Project, students will have the opportunity to manage and promote innovation projects based on real cases.

The master's degree is aimed at graduates in the field of life sciences and health, and/or the engineering or business environment, who want to focus their career in the field of innovation in health, either in public or private environments. It also aims to reach researchers and professionals who wish to promote their own project as entrepreneurs and need to expand their knowledge in management and business development, in the field of generating innovative ideas, search for unresolved clinical needs, development of medical technologies, finance, soft-skills and global health challenges.

At the end of the program, students will have acquired the knowledge and technical and strategic skills necessary to achieve different professional profiles such as innovation project manager or public-private projects and consortiums in public and private health and hospital environments (pharmaceutical, biotechnology, medical devices, investment funds, consulting firms, etc.); as well as management and leadership positions (CEO, CTO, CSO, etc.) in scientific, technological and business development coordination teams in spin off and start up companies.

For more information and pre-enrollment, visit the Master’s webpage.

Vall d'Hebron: a leader in innovation

The Master's Degree in Health Innovation and Entrepreneurship stands out for being the first one focused on innovation and entrepreneurship from a hospital campus. In fact, in recent years Vall d'Hebron is consolidating as a leading campus in the creation of spin-offs, a fact that demonstrates the translational ability and impact of the research carried out.

Vall d'Hebron's Innovation model is based on the orientation of research and knowledge generation towards challenges and unmet clinical needs and the creation of innovative solutions to satisfy them. Its business approach is intrinsically collaborative with the business network (collaborations and co-developments with SMEs and even with large international leading companies), where all the necessary agents are included (patients, investors, experts, regulators, purchasers, administration…) and with a totally international vision and scope.

In recent years, VHIR has created 20 companies such as Mosaic Therapeutics, Anaconda Brain, Mimark, Adan Medical Innovation or IMIDomics, which together employ more than 60 people, with a market value of more than €450M and which have raised an accumulated €62M in equity and €20M in public funding.

A decade of research professional training

The Master’s Degree in Health Innovation and Entrepreneurship, together with the Master's Degree in Clinical Trials Management and Coordination, is incorporated this year to the offer of VHIR's master's degrees with the aim of training new professionals in the field of health, innovation and life sciences.

The Master’s Degree in Translational Biomedical Research was the first master's degree to be launched at VHIR a decade ago, during which more than 400 students interested in acquiring knowledge and skills in health research to contribute to the success of future research have already been trained.