Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology
BIST is a Catalan non-profit foundation coordinating a consortium of seven leading research centres (CRG, IBEC, ICFO, ICIQ, ICN2, IFAE, IRB Barcelona) representing approximately 2,000 researchers, funding cross-disciplinary science through grants, fellowship programmes, and spin-off commercialisation.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded2017
- HeadquartersBarcelona, Spain
- Headcount1,001–5,000
- GTM typeB2B
- OfferingServices
What Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology does
The Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology (BIST) is a private, non-profit scientific cooperation foundation registered under Catalan law (foundation number 2921, CIF G-66483207), established in 2015–2017 and headquartered in Barcelona. It coordinates a consortium of seven leading Catalan research centres — CRG, IBEC, ICFO, ICIQ, ICN2, IFAE, and IRB Barcelona — collectively representing approximately 2,000 researchers working across genomics, bioengineering, biomedicine, chemistry, nanotechnology, photonics, and high-energy physics. BIST's core function is to provide a multidisciplinary collaboration platform rather than commercial products, with revenue drawn from institutional funding (Generalitat de Catalunya, Banc Sabadell Foundation, Fundació Catalunya-La Pedrera, Fundació Privada Cellex, FemCat), competitive research grants (notably EU Horizon 2020 Marie Skłodowska-Curie grant agreement No. 754510), and indirect returns via spin-off equity and licensing from member centres.
BIST's product surface consists of programmes and platforms rather than commercial goods: the PROBIST postdoctoral fellowship programme (61 three-year and 10 two-year fellowships delivered across five calls since 2017), the BIST Ignite multidisciplinary collaboration programme, the BIST Catalysers innovation and entrepreneurship training programme (launched October 2025), the BIST Courses educational platform, and the BIST Mentoring Programme. Its underlying technology stack is heterogeneous and member-driven rather than unified: notable components include the ioChem-BD open-source computational chemistry data repository hosted on Barcelona Supercomputing Center infrastructure (recognised in Nature's Scientific Data Recommended Data Repositories), quantum sensing platforms developed within the AION collaboration at CERN, electrochemical DNA biosensors for bovine mastitis detection, and graphene, microscopy, and chemical biology research infrastructure.
Go-to-market is fundamentally event- and community-driven rather than sales-driven: BIST hosts the BIST Symposium (over 150 researchers in the 2020 edition), BIST Career Week (online career development), BIST Courses, and recurring society outreach programmes including Quantum for Schools and Investigam. Customer segments are academic researchers, PhD and Master's students, and the seven member institutions themselves; the foundation does not sell to external enterprise customers. The model produces ancillary monetisation through spin-off creation (ICFO has generated 13 spin-offs including LuxQuanta and Shinephi; ICIQ has produced Jolt, ioChem-BD, and Treellum Technologies; IRB Barcelona counts Gate2Brain among its spin-offs), with economic value flowing back to the ecosystem via equity, licensing, and royalties rather than a unified revenue line.
Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology
- Legal name
- BARCELONA INSTITUTE OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY FOUNDATION
- Website
- https://bist.eu
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 2017
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 1,001–5,000 employees
- Short description
- BIST is a Catalan non-profit foundation coordinating a consortium of seven leading research centres (CRG, IBEC, ICFO, ICIQ, ICN2, IFAE, IRB Barcelona) representing approximately 2,000 researchers, funding cross-disciplinary science through grants, fellowship programmes, and spin-off commercialisation.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology industry classification
Industry- Product category
- Scientific Research Cooperation
- NAICS
- Management, Scientific, and Technical Consulting Services (5416), Research and Development in Biotechnology (except Nanobiotechnology) (541714)
- SIC
- Services-Commercial Physical & Biological Research (8731), Services-Engineering, Accounting, Research, Management (8700)
- akta.pro primary industry
- Public Research Universities with National Laboratories/Big Science Facilities (EDAHAAAJ)
- akta.pro secondary industries
- International Science, Technology & Space Cooperation Organizations (BPADAAAK), Biomedical Sciences & Medical Research Institutes (University-Based) (EDAHAGAI), Engineering & Technology Institutes (Comprehensive) (EDAHAEAA)
Keywords
Where Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- Barcelona
- HQ country
- Spain
- HQ region
- Europe
Offices2 records
Markets served
Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2B
- Offering type
- Services
- Cost components
- Personnel, Technology or R&D, Operations, Infrastructure, Marketing or Sales
Revenue model
- Institutional Funding and Grants: BIST is a foundation (Fundació) subject to Catalan law. It receives institutional funding from the Generalitat de Catalunya and private foundations on its Board of Trustees (Banc Sabadell Foundation, Fundació Catalunya-La Pedrera, Fundació Privada Cellex, FemCat). The foundation also secures competitive research grants from European bodies (ERC grants) and national/regional programmes.
- Spin-off and Technology Transfer: Member centres create spin-off companies from research outputs. Recent examples include ICFO spin-offs LuxQuanta (€8M Series A) and Shinephi (13th ICFO spin-off), and ICIQ spin-offs Jolt (€6M funding) and ioChem-BD. Revenue may flow through licensing, equity, or royalties from these ventures.
- Training Programmes and Fellowships: BIST operates training programmes including the PROBIST postdoctoral fellowship programme (61 three-year fellowships distributed across four calls, plus 10 two-year fellowships in final call). Funded through EU Horizon 2020 Marie Skłodowska-Curie grant agreement No. 754510 and other sources.
Pricing tiers
| Model | Billing | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Other | Multi-year contract | PROBIST Postdoctoral Fellowship - 2-year programme |
| Other | Annual | Banco Sabadell Foundation Awards - €50,000 prize each |
Go-to-market motion2 records
Distribution channels4 records
Marketing channels6 records
Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology product offering
Product offeringCore offering
BIST (Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology) is a multidisciplinary scientific cooperation foundation that brings together seven leading Catalan frontier research centres to enable collaborative research in genomics, bioengineering, biomedicine, chemistry, nanotechnology, photonics, and high-energy physics. It offers research collaboration infrastructure, postdoctoral fellowship programmes, professional training and mentoring for researchers, and supports technology transfer through spin-off creation and innovation programmes.
Product overview
BIST is a research institution rather than a commercial product company. Its core 'offering' is a collaborative scientific community of seven Catalan research centres (CRG, IBEC, ICFO, ICIQ, ICN2, IFAE, IRB Barcelona) conducting research in genomics, bioengineering, biomedicine, chemistry, nanotechnology, photonics, and high-energy physics. Supporting programmes include PROBIST (postdoctoral fellowships), BIST Ignite (multidisciplinary research), BIST Catalysers (innovation training), BIST Courses (education platform), and BIST Mentoring Programme. The institution also produces spin-off companies and maintains the ioChem-BD open-source computational chemistry database platform.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Brands
- PROBIST: BIST Postdoctoral Fellowship Programme - a Marie Skłodowska-Curie COFUND programme offering fellowships at BIST research centres
- BIST Catalysers
- BIST Ignite Programme
- BIST Courses
- WellBIST
- Precision Medicine Hub
Products and services
- PROBIST Postdoctoral Fellowship Programme A Marie Skłodowska-Curie COFUND postdoctoral fellowship programme offering 2-3 year fellowships at BIST member research centres, providing research freedom, mentoring, and training in scientific and transferable skills. Annual gross salary of €36,000 plus €2,000 relocation support. Open to international applicants with eligibility criteria regarding prior residency in Spain.
- BIST Ignite Programme A multidisciplinary research programme that provides grants for collaborative projects spanning multiple BIST research centres, enabling researchers from different disciplines (biology, chemistry, physics, engineering) to work together on frontier research questions.
- BIST Courses An online educational platform (courses.bist.eu) providing professional training courses and educational programmes for Master's and PhD students within the BIST community, covering scientific and transferable skills.
- BIST Catalysers An innovation and entrepreneurship training programme designed to foster an entrepreneurial mindset among scientists and professionals, empowering them to develop innovation opportunities. Includes international study trips to institutions such as VIB and imec. Supported by Banc Sabadell Foundation.
- BIST Mentoring Programme A mentoring programme supporting talent development within the BIST scientific community, providing professional guidance and career support to researchers across member centres.
- ioChem-BD Platform An open-source digital repository platform for managing, storing, and publishing computational chemistry datasets, following FAIR principles (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, Reusable). Included in Nature's Scientific Data Recommended Data Repositories. Developed by ICIQ in collaboration with Universitat Rovira i Virgili and hosted on Barcelona Supercomputing Center infrastructure.
Quantifiable outcome
- 61 three-year and 10 two-year postdoctoral fellowships awarded through PROBIST programme
- +3 more outcomes
Companies that use Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology
Customer profileNamed customers2 records
Segments3 records
Ideal customer profiles3 records
Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology technology and API
TechnologyAPI detail
- Has API
- No
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
Feature3 records
Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology partnerships and signals
Strategic signalPartnerships
Ten partnerships are on record, tiered minor and core.
- VIB (Vlaams Instituut voor Biotechnologie)minorBIST Catalysers programme fellows visited VIB in Ghent, Belgium to learn from VIB's experiences in technology transfer and business development. The study trip was part of the programme's international exposure activities.
- imecminorBIST Catalysers programme fellows visited imec in Ghent, Belgium alongside VIB to learn first-hand from experiences in technology transfer and business development.
- Barcelona Supercomputing Center (BSC)coreBSC provides infrastructure hosting for the ioChem-BD platform through a collaboration agreement signed in 2016. This partnership brings technical expertise to keep the computational chemistry data repository at the forefront of chemical data needs.
- Universitat Rovira i Virgili (URV)coreURV collaborated with ICIQ group leader Carles Bo to create ioChem-BD, a digital repository for computational chemistry datasets. URV partnership enabled development and deployment of the platform.
- ALBA Synchrotron Light SourcecoreALBA Synchrotron in Cerdanyola de Vallès (Barcelona) is listed as a partner institution for PROBIST fellowship secondments, providing access to advanced synchrotron facilities for researchers.
- RMIT UniversityminorRMIT and BIST partnered to bring innovative training to PhD students, enabling international collaboration and exchange of educational best practices.
- Imperial College LondonminorImperial College London's high energy particle physics research group is listed as a partner institution for PROBIST secondments, enabling research exchange in fundamental physics.
- Dark Energy Survey (University of Chicago)minorDark Energy Survey collaboration is a PROBIST partner institution, with BIST researchers (including IFAE) involved in the project, enabling international cosmology research collaboration.
- CERN (AION Collaboration)coreBIST Community centre IFAE participates in the AION collaboration at CERN, developing next-generation quantum sensors for dark matter and gravitational wave detection. Diego Blas (ICREA researcher at IFAE) is a key member of the collaboration.
- Weizmann Institute of ScienceminorHelen and Martin Kimmel Center for Nanoscale Science at Weizmann Institute is a PROBIST partner institution, enabling secondments for nanotechnology research collaboration.
Scale indicators6 records
Recent moves6 records
Expansion highlights6 records
Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology competitors and assessment
Company assessmentEmerging players
- Institut Pasteur: International network of biomedical research institutes headquartered in Paris with the same foundation governance model as BIST. Overlapping in non-profit foundation research structure, technology transfer, and fellowship programmes.
Direct peers
- Francis Crick Institute: A biomedical discovery research institute in London formed by six founding partners (including MRC and Wellcome). Comparable to BIST as a multi-funder research consortium driving interdisciplinary collaboration at scale, with a single shared facility operating model.
- CNRS (Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique): France's largest public research organisation operating across all fields of science. Structurally analogous to BIST as a national-level scientific cooperation body coordinating many laboratories and awarding large-scale grants and fellowships.
- Helmholtz Association: Germany's largest scientific organisation, comprising 18 research centres focused on big science (energy, health, matter, information). Directly comparable to BIST as a multi-centre research consortium with national-laboratory scale ambition and member-institute governance.
- Weizmann Institute of Science: Israeli multidisciplinary graduate research institution with five faculties covering natural sciences. Listed by BIST as a PROBIST secondment partner; highly comparable given small size, world-class faculty, government funding model, and frontier research focus.
- CSIC (Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas): Spain's largest public research institution, operating more than 100 centres across all knowledge areas. Directly comparable as Spain's national multidisciplinary research body coordinating centres similar in scope to BIST's seven member centres.
- CNR (Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche): Italy's national research council, the largest public research institution in Italy with institutes across scientific disciplines. Comparable to BIST in governance structure (multi-institute consortium), research breadth, and public funding model.
- Max Planck Society: Germany's flagship non-university basic research organisation operating ~85 Max Planck Institutes across natural, life, social, and humanities sciences. Closest comparable to BIST given its multi-institute consortium structure, government-backed foundation status, and emphasis on frontier research plus spin-off creation.
- RIKEN: Japan's flagship multidisciplinary research organisation with a network of institutes spanning physics, chemistry, biology, and computational science. Comparable to BIST given the multi-institute consortium structure, government backing, and emphasis on interdisciplinary frontier research.
Broad incumbents
- CERN (European Organization for Nuclear Research): European intergovernmental organisation operating the largest particle physics laboratory. BIST's IFAE centre participates in CERN-led collaborations (AION). Comparable on big-science/high-energy physics research and international member-state governance model.
Market position
Strengths5 records
Weaknesses5 records
Competitive moat6 records
Key risks6 records
Key highlights7 records
Customer concentration
Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology social profiles
Digital presenceBarcelona Institute of Science and Technology financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles2 records
Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology subsidiaries and ownership
Company hierarchySubsidiaries7 records
Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds
Investors
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Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A
Investments
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology
What does Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology do?
BIST (Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology) is a multidisciplinary scientific cooperation foundation that brings together seven leading Catalan frontier research centres to enable collaborative research in genomics, bioengineering, biomedicine, chemistry, nanotechnology, photonics, and high-energy physics. It offers research collaboration infrastructure, postdoctoral fellowship programmes, professional training and mentoring for researchers, and supports technology transfer through spin-off creation and innovation programmes.
Is Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology a public or private company?
Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology is a private company. It is classified as nonprofit foundation owned and is currently operating.
When was Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology founded?
Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology was founded in 2017. It employs 1,001 to 5,000 people.
Where is Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology based?
Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology is headquartered in Barcelona, Spain, in the Europe region.
How does Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology make money?
Three revenue lines are on record. Institutional Funding and Grants are the primary driver. The others are spin-off and Technology Transfer and training Programmes and Fellowships.
Who are Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology's main competitors?
Institut Pasteur is listed as an emerging player. Direct peers are Francis Crick Institute, CNRS (Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique), Helmholtz Association, Weizmann Institute of Science, CSIC (Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas), CNR (Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche), Max Planck Society and RIKEN. CERN (European Organization for Nuclear Research) is listed as a broad incumbent.
Does Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology have an API?
No public API is recorded for Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology.
What industry is Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology in?
Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology's product category is Scientific Research Cooperation. Its primary akta.pro industry code is EDAHAAAJ, Public Research Universities with National Laboratories/Big Science Facilities, with a secondary code of BPADAAAK, International Science, Technology & Space Cooperation Organizations. Its NAICS code is 5416 and its SIC code is 8731.