The pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca has reached an agreement with the South Summit startup platform to work together to boost the innovative ecosystem in Spain. The British company will join South Summit's network of startups, entrepreneurs and companies focused on health and new technologies, and will promote the development of disruptive solutions through synergies with the Spanish organisation.

The aim of the partnership is to identify solutions that can have a real impact on patient health and quality of life in order to promote their development. The start of this new relationship took place during South Summit 2022, on 8, 9 and 10 June in Madrid, which celebrated its tenth edition as a meeting point for the entrepreneurial ecosystem.

Digital transformation
With this agreement, AstraZeneca is demonstrating its commitment to innovation to improve patients' lives through science and technology. The company is currently undergoing a digital transformation process to maximise the reach of its entire business. One of its priorities in this phase is to get closer to the innovative ecosystem.

As part of its growing focus on innovation, AstraZeneca created an interconnected global network in 2021 called A. Catalyst Network, with the aim of accelerating all the innovative projects in which it is involved. This network consists of more than twenty hubs, five hundred agreements, one hundred solutions under development, three hundred accompanies startups and twenty scaled solutions.

Forging alliances
The pharmaceutical company's president, Rick R. Suarez, values the new agreement, "At AstraZeneca, we believe that innovation does not happen in isolation, and that is why it is critical to connect with the innovation and healthcare ecosystem to build partnerships that help us improve people's lives through new technologies. We are very excited about this agreement with South Summit, which will allow us to accelerate AstraZeneca's innovation agenda in Spain and contribute to bringing healthcare and startups together to create disruptive solutions.”

South Summit founder and CEO María Benjumea responded, "We are delighted to have a partner like AstraZeneca at this tenth edition of South Summit. It is certainly a great birthday present. The need to connect all actors involved in innovation, which is unquestionable in a field such as health, is part of our DNA. These past two years have shown us even more how scientific innovation helps us save lives, evolve as a society and overcome situations we could never have imagined.”

^{Photo: AstraZeneca}