Salamanca to host the Green Innovation Forum 2026

Salamanca has been chosen to host the next edition of the Green Innovation Forum, which will be held on April 21, 2026, at the Castilla y León Conference and Exhibition Centre. The event will be preceded by an institutional reception on April 20 at the historic Fonseca Palace.

Since its creation, the Green Innovation Forum has maintained a strong commitment to the objectives of the 2030 Agenda and to Spain's and the European Union's recovery plans within the framework of the Green Deal, consolidating its role as a strategic platform to drive innovative solutions toward a more sustainable economy.

Over the course of its editions, the forum has become a unique meeting point for leading Spanish and international companies and research institutions specializing in green biotechnology. It is also a must-attend event for companies, foundations, and academic institutions in the biotechnology field, as well as for organizations from key sectors such as sustainable agriculture, food innovation, and green energy.

This gathering provides an ideal space for all entities interested in Spain's green economy to learn about the latest trends, technological advances, and collaboration opportunities.

Salamanca, a Key Technology Hub in Life Sciences and Biotechnology

Salamanca is consolidating its position as a leading technology hub in southwestern Europe thanks to the joint efforts of the City Council, universities, research centers, and companies through the Salamanca Tech initiative. This initiative is creating a network of municipal infrastructures made available to young people, researchers, and entrepreneurs to develop their projects.

This technological development focuses on talent, the biosanitary industry, and the green economy, and is supported by infrastructures such as ABIOINNOVA, the high-technology incubator for biosanitary companies.

From this space, the city is promoting innovative projects in personalized medicine, advanced diagnostics, and the treatment of rare diseases, strengthening its historic link to health and its growing leadership in innovation. Currently, this municipal center hosts nine promising projects, and a second call for applications is underway.

The latest data published by the Cotec Foundation for Innovation place Salamanca as the province with the highest growth in technology employment. In fact, Salamanca is among the world's top 1,000 cities and among the top 35 in Spain for developing startups.

According to Pedro Martínez, Councillor for Economic Development of the Salamanca City Council, "this new productive model in Salamanca, which brings together talent, entrepreneurship, and innovation with the aim of generating wealth and employment opportunities, has made Salamanca an ideal city to invest in and a place where everyone can develop their personal and professional project."

More Than 200 Professionals from 120 Companies Attended the Last Edition

The previous edition of the Green Innovation Forum, held on November 19, 2024, in Pamplona, brought together more than 200 professionals from 120 companies from eight countries. The program addressed key topics for the green transition, such as the role of omics applied to nutrition and food tech, the challenges and outlook of synthetic biology, soil protection through biotechnology, regulatory challenges in genome editing, the keys to a carbon-neutral future, and the value of collaboration and knowledge transfer in the bioeconomy, among others, with contributions from a broad group of national and international experts.

The event also fostered new opportunities through its partnering platform, which facilitated more than 200 one-to-one meetings, in addition to giving nearly a dozen companies the opportunity to present their projects to 16 professional investors.

"The Green Innovation Forum has established itself as one of the most relevant events for the green biotechnology sector. Each edition demonstrates the enormous transformative potential of our companies and research centers and reinforces the importance of continuing to promote innovative solutions to move toward a more sustainable economy. Holding this event in Salamanca is especially significant: the city has become one of the most dynamic biotechnology innovation hubs in the country, with a solid, committed, and growing ecosystem. We are convinced that the 2026 edition will provide a new boost to the Spanish bioeconomy and to the international positioning of our sector," says Ion Arocena, CEO of AseBio.