Josep Samitier is Executive Director of Fraunhofer Spain Research, leading the Fraunhofer Center for Applied Theragnostics (Fraunhofer CAT) — the organization's first applied bioengineering program for health, based at the Barcelona Science Park. Fraunhofer CAT develops theragnostic tools that combine diagnosis and therapy for precision medicine, building on the collaboration between the Fraunhofer Institute for Biomedical Engineering (IBMT) and the Institute for Bioengineering of Catalonia (IBEC), which Samitier directed for thirteen years (2013–2025).
He has spent his career building and funding research outside traditional venture capital. He is National Coordinator of Spain's Complementary Plan for Biotechnology Applied to Health — a €32M initiative of the Ministry of Science and Innovation together with seven autonomous communities, focused on new tools for precision medicine — and a founding member of EIT Health. He serves on the EU's Expert Group on Biotechnologies' Risk Assessment under the European Economic Security Strategy, and is President of the Catalan Association of Research Entities (ACER). At Fraunhofer CAT he applies this experience to positioning applied research infrastructure as a bridge that de-risks early-stage technology before it reaches investors.
Samitier is Full Professor of Electronic and Biomedical Engineering at the University of Barcelona, head of the Nanobioengineering Group at IBEC, group leader at CIBER-BBN, coordinator of the Spanish Nanomedicine Platform (NanomedSpain), a member of the European Technology Platform on Nanomedicine, and a full member of the Science and Technology Section of the Institute for Catalan Studies (IEC). He was awarded the City of Barcelona Prize for Technological Innovation (2003) and the Narcís Monturiol Medal (2020).