Belgium’s biotech scaling problem stems from regional fragmentation, a new research paper says a single consortium is needed
Belgium’s biotech sector has the science but not the scale, according to a new PwC whitepaper, which argues that the country must operate as one ecosystem if startups are to grow.
PwC’s whitepaper, “Belgium’s biotech startup ecosystem at an inflection point,” identifies the factors behind the scaling gap, pointing to fragmented support structures, growth-stage funding shortages, and limited industrialisation capacity.
“We are strong at the bench, but we are stretched at the scale-up,” said Zeger De Groote, a senior manager at PwC Belgium. Belgium runs nearly 200 clinical trials per million inhabitants, second only to Denmark in Europe.
On innovation, Belgium ranks third in Europe, behind Switzerland and Denmark, said Charlotte Bertrand of PwC Belgium. On finance, it drops to fifth. “Belgium creates a lot of innovation but is not yet able to capture that value financially,” she said.
