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Accelerating technological innovation to improve the health of everyone

Interview with Ms Barbara TRACHTE, State Secretary of the Brussels-Capital Region, responsible for Economic Transition and Scientific Research

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What do you think are the strong points of health research and innovation in the Brussels Region? The Brussels-Capital Region is known and recognised for its very dense ecosystem of startups in the medical technology sector. The IT sector, which is also highly developed in Brussels, interacts strongly with the medical technology sector, in particular in developing applications in predictive medicine. In addition, Brussels is a major hub of university hospitals. It is particularly recognised for its research in oncology, chronic and neurodegenerative diseases, medical devices and medical imaging. Finally, I should also add the Brussels pharmaceutical sector, which is particularly active in innovation. It is one of the most innovative sectors in the Brussels-Capital Region.

How does the Regional Government support scientific research? Could you tell us what the main mechanisms are? Research, development and innovation are important levers to tackle the major societal challenges, be they climatic, environment, social or economic. In Brussels, public support for scientific research, development and innovation must be suited to the particularities of a city district with its own specific socio-economic characteristics. My ambition is to make the RDI ecosystem a driver of solutions for the well-being of Brussels residents. Multiple tools are available for this purpose. One of them is the regional innovation plan, which provides the strategic framework within which the Brussels-Capital Region supports research and innovation. This plan, the result of a consultative process, is built around four transversal axes: improve the innovation chain; support new forms of innovation and new RDI players; improve communication and awareness raising on RDI, and ensure wider, participative and efficient governance of the regional innovation plan. In addition, the plan focuses on smart specialisation. Special attention is paid to three strategic activity areas that reflect the strengths of the Region. They are areas that can also act as a lever for the well-being of Brussels residents: health, environment, and ICT. In September 2019, almost 80% of all the RIP actions were operational. Furthermore, to support research and innovation in Brussels, the Region subsidises numerous projects. In 2018, for example, Innoviris provided €46m in funding to companies, research institutes and associations in the non-consumer segment, covering no fewer than 378 different projects.

Could you give us a few examples of health research projects being supported by the Regional Government? ONCO-BRU is a project co-financed by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF). This is an exemplary project. Its aim is to develop lifelong learning in the field of oncology for all health ecosystem players: health professionals, job seekers and, of course, patients.

Another project is the “e-health brussels” project. This platform is aimed at the development of an environment that encourages the sharing of medical data. It must support innovative Brussels companies in accelerating the deployment of their technological solutions for improving the health of everyone.

Also, to promote in a general way healthcare as an area of applied research, the Bridge (Research Platforms) call “Personalised medicine and integrated care” was launched in 2017. This call stimulates research organisations to undertake collaborative research around the development of personalised medicine, with emphasis on the integration of knowledge into practice, on the one hand, and collaborative research around the integration of care between different care providers, on the other hand. The programme aims to promote the transfer of academic project results to economic players in the Region.

Barbara Trachte at the 10th anniversary of the Pepibru enterprise centre Barbara Trachte at Bigh Farms in Anderlecht © Rights reserved © Rights reserved

How can scientific research contribute to the economic transition? Do some of the ongoing projects fit into this framework? Innoviris manages several programmes designed to contribute to the economic transition. First, there is the Co-create programme, which supports RDI projects conducted in co-creation and aims to generate knowledge for urban resilience by putting the circular economy at the heart of RDI. Co-creation involves collaboration between citizens, universities, associations and businesses, in the research and testing of innovative solutions to make the city resilient in the face of societal and environmental challenges. Another Innoviris programme, called Experimental Platforms, allows researchers to experiment and test innovative devices to facilitate sustainable transition within the Brussels Region. Projects that have thus far emerged from this programme address the issues of sustainable construction, mobility and logistics, all major challenges for Brussels. The Research Platforms programme supports collaborative and multidisciplinary research with a view to bridging the gap between universities, higher education establishments and research centres. One of the latest calls under this programme was dedicated to green chemistry. In addition, Innoviris finances a programme called Prospective Research. Through this programme, we finance prospective research projects on topics that frame the urban challenges for the Region. These projects help us gain a better understanding of the urban complexity of Brussels, and how it could address the socio-economic issues of the coming years. This year, the programme focuses on sustainable tourism and future governance. Finally, Innoviris provides structural funding to the Greenbizz incubator, which provides companies and start-ups with services and infrastructures required to develop their sustainable development projects.

Personalised medicine is one of the three priority areas of the Regional Government. What do you think are the biggest challenges that human health researchers will face in the coming years? Today’s medicine integrates more and more predictive dimensions, thanks to recent advances in biotechnology, information technology, and imaging. This predictive medicine fits in with the approach taken by personalised medicine, because it can predict the conditions that will affect a specific individual. Despite the progress in research, efforts are still needed to translate this research into the development of services and products. Collaborations between different health industry players are often complicated by differences in development processes across the sectors in terms of timing/duration and by diverging business models across different health-related sectors. This can act as a disincentive for financial investment in health-related RDI. Ethical issues surrounding the sharing of medical data are yet another challenge. It should be possible in the long term to establish a reference framework so that data can be used transparently and securely for patients. Innoviris supports a collaborative research programme called Joint Research Programme, which in 2019 focused on predictive medicine. In addition, Innoviris is currently working on the development of an ethical framework that should address current challenges, not only in research but in other areas as well.