On 25 April 2024, Fundació Pasqual Maragall (Pasqual Maragall Foundation), winner of the 2023 REGIOSTARS award, received a visit from representatives of the European Commission. Monika Hencsey, Director for Budget, Communication and General Affairs of the Directorate-General for Regional and Urban Policy at the European Commission led the delegation that visited the Foundation building, to mark the occasion of the 2023 REGIOSTARS award that the Pasqual Maragall Foundation received, in the category "A Competitive and Smart Europe".
During the visit, Ms Hencsey stressed that “When the funding brings together great stories and great projects, great things can happen.” Furthermore, she added: "At the Pasqual Maragall Foundation you often say 'We will beat Alzheimer's disease'. It is a bold statement, but it is the kind of boldness that Europe needs to face present and future challenges. Especially if, as in this case, boldness goes hand in hand with concrete and tangible results. In 2022, 21% of the EU population will be 65 years of age or older, and the figures for Spain are similar. We need our elderly, who continue to grow in number, to enjoy the best possible health."
The general director of the Pasqual Maragall Foundation, Dr Arcadi Navarro, highlighted the great contribution their building has made to the competitiveness of Europe in neuroscience, and also declared: “We believe that a world without Alzheimer's is possible and that we are closer to it with the research we develop thanks to the contributions of the more than 80,000 people who support us with their philanthropic donations. But we must insist, Alzheimer's can become a structural pandemic in the coming years due to its high incidence and only through science can we defeat it. For this reason, we must allocate even more resources and have more buildings like the Pasqual Maragall Foundation.” The European REGIOSTARS awards, which have been running since 2008, reward excellence, inclusivity, and impact on regional development from projects financed with European funds. 2023 was the first time that a Catalan proposal won this award.