Wallonia Biotech

Wallonia Biotech is an incubator for projects in the life sciences area established at the initiative of the Free University of Brussels (ULB) and Igretec (the intercommunal development association), and with the support of Sambrinest. Wallonia Biotech is an indispensable complement to BioVallée, a non-profit corporation tasked with commercializing research. The incubator plans to stimulate and accompany entrepreneurs in a three-step process:

1. Promotion by creating conditions favorable to the birth of new ideas, notably though efficient communication (website, media contacts, presence at national and international biotech events, etc.) and though entrepreneurial training for researchers, students and young graduates. In this task, Wallonia Biotech may count on its tight links with specialist players, such as the Solvay Business School.

2. Detection of new ideas, by maintaining an overview on science and technology developments and the evolution of market needs.

3. Realization. Once an idea is formulated, it must then be validated and transformed into a real activity or business project, and the means must be given for it to become concrete. This is where the network of specialist collaborators at Wallonia Biotech comes in. They can help entrepreneurs in all aspects of their new activity: legal, financial, administrative and real estate.

Wallonia Biotech is firmly established in the heart of the Charleroi Biopole next to BioVallée, at the meeting point of science and business. It is the missing link between the two universes and facilitates dialogue between them.

BioVallée
BioVallée is a development and biotechnology research center installed within the Charleroi Biopole. The centre was created mainly through the initiative of the Free University of Brussels (ULB) in partnership with the University of Mons-Hainaut and the intercommunal development organization Igretec. Its principal mission is to facilitate the transformation of research results into innovative products and services marketed by the companies in the sector. It is powerfully supported by the European structural funds (FEDER and FSE) and by the Walloon Region, BioVallée specializes in genetic construction and analysis, a rapidly expanding field that touches an impressive variety of activity sectors. Health (diagnosis and therapeutic processes, research instruments), agro-foodstuffs (traceability, security, etc.), agriculture (seed selection and certification) and environment (new bioremediation processes with the aide of micro-organisms and plants), etc.

Biopole
Biopole, located in the Charleroi Aeropole science park, is a unique stenght of Wallonia born of political will and benefits from European and Walloon support. It is a biotechnology center bringing together companies and economic facilitator.