“Barcelona has a growing biotech community” by Claire Woodthorpe

Claire Woodthorpe, 45 years old, married with 7 children. Born in London, Claire has also lived in Amsterdam before moving to Barcelona last year. She is the Chief Operating Officer of Lightpoint Medical Ltd, a company that develops and markets surgical tools and technologies for real-time, intra-operative cancer detection. Lightpoint Medical Ltd, aims to transform cancer surgery by enhancing surgical precision, impoving the patient outcomes, and reducing healthcare costs in general.

Why did you choose Barcelona?

We work closely with Hospital del Mar on our product developments and clinical trials and when we needed a European base after Brexit Barcelona’s growing biotech community and the help to move provided by Acció made it an obvious choice

What aspects of the city would you highlight as being positive?

I love the city. The culture, the lifestyle, oh my goodness the food! Barcelona has all the benefits of a large city without becoming cold and impersonal. The people here have a strong work/life balance that has been lost from many parts of northern Europe, particularly London.

What aspects of the city must be improved? How?

It is not specific to Barcelona, but the Spanish bureaucratic system is very difficult to navigate, we were very fortunate in having Acció help us with the move but is it significantly more complex to set up business here than in, for example, Amsterdam.

Which are the city’s strengths that will allow it to overcome the COVID-19 crisis?

The people of Barcelona I have met are proud of their city and culture and I’m confident they will pull together to rebuild where necessary in the wake of the pandemic.

What other challenges do you think the city will face once the health crisis ends?

The next few years are going to be difficult all around as the world recovers from the pandemic and struggles to control rising tensions. Barcelona has a thriving new generation of startup companies and I hope that the funding remains available to incubate and grow them.

What do you expect from Barcelona in the coming years?

It’s an exciting time for Barcelona, with lots of challenges but also a huge opportunity! I am interested to see how the city navigates the years ahead and excited to play a (small) part in it.

Which city do you feel as «your city»? What do you miss the most?

Barcelona feels like home, we couldn’t see ourselves moving back to the UK now – we miss the older children and are looking forwards to the covid travel restrictions being lifted on both sides to make getting to see each other easier.

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