Across Borders

On the Map

Horizon 2020

Horizon 2020 is the largest European Union Research and Innovation program ever undertaken

• It has close to €80 billion of funding allocated for the next seven years (2014-2020), along with private and public investment that the initial funding will attract

• The project is aimed at enhancing Europe’s knowledge-based economy, boosting innovation and helping the public and private sectors better work together

• It is also meant to improve EU international research collaboration.

As such, there are opportunities for global participation. Projects from across Europe can be submitted to receive funding

• Two-year work programs announce the specifi c areas that will be funded by Horizon 2020

• Horizon 2020 is open to participation by researchers from all over the world -You can fi nd out more here: https://ec.europa.eu/programmes/ horizon2020/

Belgium is ready to be a leader in the life sciences

I’m standing at a bridge in the very picturesque city of Ghent, Belgium, looking down at the dark waters of the canal that refl ect the lights of the buildings that sit beside it. Looking through a haze of rain, I see a row of people sitting by the canal, drinking wine, laughing and talking. It’s a mix of locals, a few daring tourists, but mostly it’s students. Ghent is a university town afterall, that powers one of the leading centres for biotechnology in Belgium.

As I watch the scene unfold below me, it’s easy to see why Belgium is an exciting place for the life sciences. With such a vibrant student base, it’s clear that Ghent is an innovative hub in the heart of Belgium.

When it comes to the life sciences, there are a lot of good things going on in the country – and it’s not just the vibrancy of the student base, although that is key. Altogether, there are more than 255 life science companies active in the region, working closely with universities, research institutes and hospitals. Traditionally known for its strength in ag-biotech and pharmaceuticals, the country has expanded its reach into new sectors.

For a relatively small country, it possesses one of the larger presences in the European biotech market. Its home to a number of leading life science companies, including CropDesign, Galapagos, Tigenix and Janssen.

On the IPO side, Belgium has had eight companies go public from 2005 to 2014, raising more than €$1 billion to date on the stock market. According to FlandersBio, the leading life science organization for the northern Flanders region of Belgium, the total annual revenue of the life sciences in Flanders is approximately €$1.9 billion. The life sciences sector in the region employs over 10,000 employees in life sciences and is responsible for close to 20 per cent of R&D expenditure in Flanders.

And while known on the European level for being a strong player in the life sciences, Belgium is perhaps not as well-known on the international scale. For FlandersBio managing director Henk Joos, one of his goals is to promote the region more internation-

ally. We meet Joos at the VIB (the Flanders Institute for Biotechnology), one of the top centres for biotech R&D in Flanders.

“One of the objectives that we have at FlandersBio is to more and more put our cluster and our companies on the international scale,” says Joos.

FlandersBio is an organization that is aiming to create a wider ecosystem for biotech in Belgium. Its goal is to attract more companies and investors, as well as promote the life sciences in the country.

“We started with two companies in the early 80s. Today we have 255 organizations,” notes Joos. “Close to 120 of them have their own R&D in-house facilities. Seventy-one of them use and sell products today. There has been a whole range of companies that were developed here that provide dedicated services to our industry.”

The organization is responsible for immersing a group of us in Belgium’s life sciences culture, taking us on tours of the bioclusters in Ghent and Leuven. We tour a number of companies, including Remynd, Tigenix, Ablynx and Q Biologicals. We also attend the Knowledge for Growth conference, Europe’s largest regional life science convention.

We meet with the leaders of both the wellestablished and biotech giant companies (Janssen and ThromboGenics) as well as new and upcoming companies like Ablynx and Crailar Technologies, the Vancouver, B.C.-based biotech developing renewable and environmentally sustainable biomass resources using flax, hemp and other fibres. Upon expanding its business to Europe, Crailar opened a Belgium facility to be closer to the action.

And while the companies span the spectrum from ag-biotech to pharmaceuticals, biomedical research and nanotechnology, their community is a tight-knit one, used to working in collaboration. In addition to working closely together, over the years the companies have invested in each other, growing the sector in Belgium.

“These companies are almost all still here and have grown, have doubled and quadrupled the number of people,” notes Joos. “PGS when we were sold 120 people, today there are 360 at Bayer Crop Science. CropDesign has doubled. A number of others [have the] same story. The other interesting thing - the €$2billion dollars that was received by the shareholders was re-ploughed back into a number of startups.”

“I sometimes compare this with the phenomenon when you throw a stone in a pond,” describes Joos. “You have a first wave. The first wave here was PGS and InnoGenetics. Then you have a second wave, which is a little bigger. We’re now in the third wave, the Ablynx wave, and it becomes bigger and it expands.”

The companies are also closely tied to Belgium’s research institutes, providing an avenue for linking research and business development. Belgium has 14 bio-incubators, research institutes, academic hospitals and clinical research organizations. It’s also home to the biggest R&D hub for plant biotech, and five world-class universities.

We visited one of these research pillars, the VIB’s bio-incubator, at the Technology Park at the University of Ghent. While touring the facility, it became clear that Belgium has something special here. We tour their BioImaging Core and their greenhouse facilities. Both are packed with state-of-the-art equipment and highly focused scientists. That’s not to say it’s dull; there’s a feeling of comradery and enthusiasm that comes especially with university-based institutes.

True to form for a country housing the headquarters of the European Union, the facility is full of international researchers and students. In their department of plant systems biology, maize plants on conveyor belts meander through a maze of machines, being fed, watered and measured by robotic arms. The new plant phenotyping system is a state-of-the-art platform called Phenovision. Currently used for maize phenotyping, plants are grown in pots on a conveyor belt system that regularly transports them to automated weighing and irrigation stations, where certain soil humidity or nutrient levels are applied. This allows researchers to monitor plant responses to stresses such as drought or nutrient deficits. On the imaging side, we see some of the world’s most expensive lasers and modeling technology. We also tour IMEC, looking at the latest innovations in nanotechnology.

Researchers from around the world gather at these institutes. Not just researchers, but companies as well: Flanders offers a wide range of tax benefits and financial grants, from tax exemptions to beneficial tax regimes for R&D. It’s also one of the fastest places to host a clinical trial – a fact which Joos says needs to be more emphasized to bring more companies to Belgium.

“Another thing which we sometimes forget about is Belgium that it is one of the elite areas in the world in terms of performing clinical trials,” says Joos. “We are number one worldwide in clinical trials per capita: only 10 million people live here but still we have a very high density of clinical trials going on. As a result of that, 5 per cent of the top drugs in world have been developed in Belgium. I think this is something that we underexploit at this point in time.”

To help expand its life sciences sector, Belgium ultimately needs to keep doing what it’s doing. Essentially, keep working together to further draw the attention of the world. This means creating a bio-based economy instead of silos of red, green or white biotechnology, an antiquated notion according to Joos.

“I started to describe that as the way we talked about biotechnology in the Middle Ages,” he concludes. “And I have a good reason for that. There’s nothing worse than creating silos, because then human beings go and cocoon in those silos. What we need to do is get out of the silos and start to build bridges between these fields. When we start to work actively together with nano tech in order to develop new concepts and new products, that’s an example.” “What counts at end of day is what you bring to consumer or the patient. Let’s not influence that by creating silos.”

To see this story online visit http://biotechnologyfocus.ca/ on-the-map-belgium-is-readyto-be-a-leader-in-the-lifesciences

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Pumps Harvard Apparatus has launched its new Pump 11 Elite Glucose Clamp Infusion System, a time-efficient syringe pump designed for academic euglycemic or hyperglycemic glucose clamp studies. The pump aims to simplify glucose clamp studies by offering animal weight, concentration, and dose rate programming as well as the ability to change dose rates during infusion. The pump requires minimal setup using touchscreen display and reduces the margin for error by providing the most accurate fluid delivery available. Web: www.harvardapparatus.com

SRC101

Web: www.biooscientific.com

Spectroscopy Good news for all those seeking a smaller and more simplistic approach to Raman Spectroscopy. The new NRS-4100 Series Laser Raman Spectrometer from JASCO delivers the same performance and features as its larger counterparts, and then some. The spectrometer measures just 24” tall, 22” wide and 24” , and weighs only

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COMPANYs PRIMARY BUSINESS ACTIVITY

50 Academic 50a Biotech Organization 50b Clean Tech organization 50c Contract Research / Manufacturing Organization 50d Diagnostics Organization 50f Food processing / manufacturing 50g Instrument Manufacturer / Distributor 50h Packaging / Distribution 50i Pharmaceutical Organization 50j Professional Services (legal, financial, consulting, recruiting, regulatory, communications) 52 Clinical Research / Hospital 53 Research Institute 55 Government Agency 99 Other (specify):

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OCTOBER 2014

October 3-5

BCSLS Congress 2014 Venue: Whistler, BC Tel: 604-714-1760 Email: bcsls@telus.net Web: www.bcsls.net

October 5-8

ABIC 2014 Venue: Saskatoon, SK Tel: 306-668-2650 Email: abic2014@agwest.sk.ca Web: www.abic.ca/abic2014/

October 5-10

ECS Fall Meeting Venue: Cancun, Mexico Tel: 609-737-1902 Email: meetings@electrochem.org Web: www.electrochem.org

October 8-12

ID Week Venue: Philadelphia, PA Tel: (703) 740-4961 Web: http://www.idweek.org/

October 12-16

MS&T – Materials, Science & Technology 2014 Venue: Pittsburgh, PA Tel: 240-646-7054 Email: customerservice@ceramics.org Web: http://www.matscitech.org/

October 12-16

MS&T 2014 Materials Science and Technology Venue: Pittsburgh, PA Tel: 440-388-5151 Email: memberservicecenter@ asminternational.org Web: www.asminternational.org

October 20-23

30th Annual International Conference on Soils, Sediments, Water and Energy Venue: Amherst, MA Tel: 413.549.5170 Email: brenna@aehsfoundation.org Web: http://www.aehsfoundation.org/ Events.aspx

October 27-30

ASNT Annual Conference 2014 Venue: Charleston, South Carolina Tel: 800-222-2768 Email: kwise@asnt.org Web: https://www.asnt.org/MajorSiteSections/ Events-and-Publications/ Upcoming-Events/ Annual-Conference-2014.aspx

October 29-31

AusBiotech 2014 National Conference Venue: South Yarra, Australia Tel: (03) 9828 1400 Email: admin@ausbiotech.org Web: https://www.ausbiotech.org/

NOVEMBER 2014

November 2-6

AAPS Annual Meeting Venue: San Diego, CA Tel: 703-243-2800 Email: Meetings@aaps.org Web: www.aaps.org

November 12-15

MEDICA 2014 Venue: Dusseldorf, Germany Tel: 416-598-1524 Email: messeduesseldorf@germanchamber.ca Web: www.medica-tradefair.com

November 15-19

Neuroscience 2014 Venue: Washington, DC Tel: (202) 962-4000 Email: program@sfn.org Web: http://www.sfn.org/Annual-Meeting/ Neuroscience-2014

November 24-26

Genomics: The Power & The Promise Venue: Ottawa, ON Web: www.genomecanada.ca

Company & advertiser index

COMPANY PAgE WEBSiTE

Agrisoma ..................................................................................................... 6..................................................................................... www.agrisoma.com Antibe Therapeutics Inc............................................................................... 8............................................................................... www.antibethera.com/ Auxilium Pharmaceuticals ........................................................................... 9.................................................................................... www.auxilium.com/ BELLUS Health............................................................................................. 16............................................................................. www.bellushealth.com/ Biosign Technologies Inc. ............................................................................ 9...................................................................................... www.biosign.com/ Caledon Laboratories........................................................................................7 .................................................................................... www.caledonlabs.com Ceapro Inc.................................................................................................... 6.........................................................................................www.ceapro.com Children’s Miracle Network.............................................................................21 ...............................................................www.childrensmiraclenetwork.ca Dalton Pharma Services ............................................................................... 9......................................................................................... www.dalton.com Eppendorf ..........................................................................................................29 ......................................................................................... www.eppendorf.ca Eventi Capital Partners................................................................................. 9..........................................................................................www.eventi.com Medtronic Inc............................................................................................... 9...................................................................................... www.medtronic.ca Microbix Biosystems Inc. ............................................................................ 10.....................................................................................www.microbix.com NRC.............................................................................................................. 6..................................................................................... www.nrc-cnrc.gc.ca Panasonic ............................................................................................................5 ....................................................................................... www.panasonic.com POI Business Interiors ......................................................................................11 ....................................................................................................... www.poi.ca QLT Inc. ........................................................................................................ 9...........................................................................................www.qltinc.com Sanofi Group Inc........................................................................................... 6..............................................................................................www.sanofi.ca Sherbrooke Innopole ........................................................................................2 ....................................................................www.sherbrooke-innopole.com Visualase Inc. ............................................................................................... 9................................................................................ www.visualaseinc.com VWR .....................................................................................................................17 ....................................................................................... https://ca.vwr.com/ Xagenic Inc.................................................................................................. 10.....................................................................................www.xagenic.com/