Memorandum bio.be/essenscia focuses on innovation, talent and logistics to strengthen global leadership of Belgian life sciences sector
In the presence of Prime Minister Alexander De Croo, bio.be/essenscia, the Belgian sector federation for biotech and life sciences, today presented its memorandum with policy proposals under the title: ‘Belgian biotech for a better world’. The essence? With the right policy choices, we can keep Belgian biotech and biopharma at the world’s top. There are three crucial success factors to enhance the sector’s competitiveness: embracing and stimulating innovation, training and attracting more talent and strengthening our country’s unique position as a logistics hub. These are all policy themes that need to be considered from an international perspective.
The biotech sector in Belgium is booming. Over the past decade, the number of direct jobs in the biopharma and biotech industry has risen sharply from 26,000 to around 39,000 jobs, a 50% increase. Over the same period, exports have almost tripled and investment in research & development has more than doubled: from EUR 2.2 billion to EUR 5.3 billion. With more than 600 companies – from numerous start-ups and spin-offs to leading international enterprises – the Belgian ‘Health & Biotech Valley’ undeniably has significant international growth potential.
It is essential to harness this economic potential by facilitating the digital, sustainable and technological transitions in the sector to the maximum extent. The United States, the United Kingdom and many neighbouring countries are fully committed an offensive biotech policy and allocate substantial budgets available to support innovation and attract investment. To continue leveraging the unique strengths of Belgian biotech on the global stage, we need to make targeted policy choices and join forces to keep this innovative top sector competitive.
Innovation as top priority
Bio.be/essenscia’s election memorandum therefore bundles a series of concrete policy proposals around three central themes: innovation, talent and logistics. Belgium’s attractiveness as a breeding ground for the development of new medicines and biotechnological production processes – including the domain of agro- and industrial biotech – is crucial in this respect. Indeed, innovation has an impact across the entire value chain: from innovative research to clinical trials, from advanced production methods to logistics networks.
It is therefore essential that the R&D Biopharma Platform, which was launched two years ago under Prime Minister De Croo’s leadership and of which bio.be/essenscia is a part, continues during the next legislature.
“In just over 25 years, Belgium has become a leading biotech country with a global reputation and recognition.”
Prime Minister Alexander De Croo: “In just over 25 years, Belgium has become a leading biotech country with a global reputation and recognition, thanks to top expertise from top talent. During the COVID-19 crisis, the whole world could count on us. We should cherish and build on that potential. If other countries want to copy our formula for success, we have to be inventive and stay ahead of the competition. Through the R&D Biopharma Platform, this federal government, together with industry and academia, is putting its shoulder to the wheel. It is our strong ambition that Belgium will also be a world leader in the next 25 years with the right talent for innovation, production and export of biotech and biopharma solutions.”
Geoffrey Pot, president bio.be/essenscia: “With the right policy choices, we will keep the Belgian biotech and life sciences sector at the global forefront. Let’s be ambitious and further strengthen our unique starting position together. By making Belgium the epicentre of innovation in biotech. By building the most advanced and digitised Factories of the Future in our country. By building bridges between education and business and promoting Belgium internationally as a talent pool. By giving our airports and seaports every opportunity to be the world’s most sustainable logistics partners. This is how we turn Belgian biotech into a global brand.”
In terms of innovation, bio.be/essenscia puts forward two major challenges: substantially increasing the availability of venture capital and devising a smart strategy of fiscal support measures. To win the competitive battle with foreign countries, it is also important to remove potential barriers to innovation so that our country can remain an innovation leader in nuclear medicine and the development of cell and gene therapies, the so-called ATMPs (Advanced Therapy Medicinal Products).
International talent and global logistics
Attracting well-trained talent is equally a fundamental challenge. Both quantitatively – a recent study commissioned by the Pharmaceutical Industry Observatory predicts that the sector will create some 1,500 extra jobs per year over the next 3-5 years – and qualitatively, as new skills are needed for digitised and automated biotech R&D and production processes. This calls for a differentiated and effective approach: continue to invest in practice-oriented STEM education, such as dual learning, and in lifelong learning, with a central role for the sectoral training centres aptaskil and ViTalent. Attracting more international talent to our country also remains an absolute necessity.
“We need to dare to think from an international vision more often, so that promising biotech companies in Belgium can grow faster into renowned global players.”
Finally, you cannot achieve global success without an efficient logistics platform that connects the world with Belgian biotech innovations. The COVID-19 crisis has shown that logistics is a critical success factor that is becoming increasingly central to any business strategy. Increasing digitalisation and new health therapies are also raising the bar for traceability, speed and safety. This calls for more coldchain shipments, smart mobility solutions and an encouraging regulatory framework, for example with the preservation of night flights.
Frédéric Druck, secretary-general bio.be/essenscia: “Belgium has always been one of the pioneers in biotechnology. Our ambition is to remain pioneers. To achieve this, we need to dare to think from an international vision more often, so that promising biotech companies in Belgium can grow faster into renowned global players. As a sector, we set a good example by investing massively in talent. Nowhere in the world is there such a wealth of specialised life sciences training centres, with aptaskil and ViTalent. We also want to make the EU Biotech Campus, a project within the framework of the Belgian relaunch plan, the leading competence centre for biotech in Europe.”
Tineke Van hooland, deputy secretary-general bio.be/essenscia: “What we invent here in Belgium, we can also produce here. What we do not make here, we cannot export. This illustrates how strongly innovation, production and export are linked. Belgium excels in biotech, but support policies in other countries can undermine that position. We have a lot of assets, but now is the time to take bold measures that structurally anchor this sector in our country. Not only in terms of innovation and production, but also in terms of talent development and logistical positioning. Not just for today and tomorrow, but especially for the next decades.”
Download the memorandum of bio.be/essenscia: Belgian biotech for a better world
‘Shaping the future of biotech in Belgium: what’s next?’ During bio.be/essenscia’s annual event, there was a look ahead to the future opportunities of the life sciences sector in our country. With testimonials from experts from Brussels Airport Company, Deloitte, GSK, Johnson & Johnson, PDC*line Pharma and Universiteit Gent-CESPE and video testimonials from aptaskil, iTeos Therapeutics, Port of Antwerp-Bruges and ViTalent. Techwatcher Andrii Buvailo discussed the impact of artificial intelligence on the life sciences industry in a keynote, Prime Minister Alexander De Croo spotlighted the strengths of the Belgian biotech sector in his closing speech.
