Europe’s sluggish economic growth of recent years has been reflected in some surveys about entrepreneurship. The percentages of adults engaged in early-staged entrepreneurial activity, according to the Global Entrepreneurship Model, ranged (as of 2010) from 4.2% in Germany to 5.8% in France—compared with 7.6% of Americans, 14% of Chinese, and 17% of Brazilians. A year later, an EY report found European entrepreneurs less confident about their countries as places for startups compared with adults surveyed in the U.S., Brazil, or Canada.
Fortunately, that gloom has not been reflected in European biotech incubator activity, which has seen some older operators expand their operations with new facilities in new technologies. As a result, GEN was able to expand this year’s partial list of European Biotech Incubators from the 20 highlighted last year to 35 facilities.
Like their U.S. counterparts, many of which were listed by GEN last week, those facilities describe themselves with the same English words, such as “incubator” and “accelerator” and “innovation center.” Whatever the name, the words convey a business center dedicated to housing, equipping, funding, supporting, and/or just nurturing biotechnology and pharmaceutical startups.
Following is a list of 35 incubators serving biotechnology and pharmaceutical startups in Europe, unranked and listed in alphabetical order, based on information furnished by the companies on their websites and other publicly available material, including their LinkedIn and Twitter pages and press announcements. The companies listed are a subsection of European incubators and accelerators as established from Internet searches or publicly available online lists, but do not constitute a list of all incubators and accelerators on the continent.
Each incubator is listed with its address, website address, what startups it is designed for, size, year opened, and manager or other contact person. Not included are number of companies; many incubators do not furnish such numbers, since some of their companies are in stealth mode.
BELGIUM
Flemish Institute for Biotechnology (VIB)
Consists of two bio-incubators (See below) and Bio-Accelerator Gent, a business service center for rapidly expanding biotech and life-science companies
Contact: Dirk Iserentant, Invention analyst VIB, [email protected] or +32 9 244 11 69
- • Bio-incubator Leuven
- Gaston Geenslaan 1 • 3001 Leuven (Heverlee) (within Leuven Arenberg Science Park)
- Website: www.vib.be/en/business-opportunities/facilities-for-enterprises/Pages/Bio-incubator-Leuven.aspx
- Designed for: Life sciences companies with significant R&D activities and growth potential; Joint venture between VIB, KU Leuven, and AVEVE group
- Size: 8,690 square meters (93,538 square feet) in three buildings
- Contact: Martin Hinoul, Ph.D., [email protected] or +32 16 32 09 05; Marleen Verlinden, [email protected] or +32 16 32 64 95
- Opened: 2008 (first building); 2011 (second building); 2014 (third building)
- • Bio-incubator Gent
Technologiepark 4, 9052 Gent (within Zwijnaarde Technology Park of the Ghent University) - Website: www.vib.be/en/business-opportunities/facilities-for-enterprises/Pages/Locations.aspx
- Designed for: Life sciences companies with significant R&D activities and growth potential
- Size: More than 80,000 square feet
- Opened: 2006
- Contact: Katrien Swerts, +32 9 244 66 11
BioVille
Agoralaan building Abis, B-3590 Diepenbeek
Website: www.bioville.be
Designed for: Young and growing life sciences companies; An initiative of the venture capital group LRM, with support from the Belgian province of Limburg and Hasselt University
Size: More than 3,600 square meters (38,750 square feet) consisting of original building of 1,600+ square meters (17,222 square feet), and second building of 2,000 square meters (21,528 square feet); Organizations that have outgrown the incubation phase and require specific infrastructure such as production facilities can be accommodated with build-to-suit facilities; companies outgrowing the space have access to support in finding an appropriate location and specialized infrastructure that can be used for R&D, commercial activities or production
Opened: 2012 (phase 1); 2014 (phase 2)
Contact: Kris Motmans, Ph.D., managing director, [email protected] or + 32 11 28 69 02
CZECH REPUBLIC
INBIT
Website: www.jic.cz/inbit-en
Designed for: Companies with “innovative” products or services that generate revenue of less than CZK 10 million (about $409,000), have at least one paying customer, “are ambitious and aim to be market leaders in their fields, at least at a national level,” and are in business for not more than three years. Companies selected through competitive process, after which they have access to financial support for business plans, R&D, expansion into new markets, improved services, or running costs
Size: 2,000 square meters (21,528 square feet) of laboratories and offices
Opened: 2008
Contact: Zdenek Rucka, business innovation manager, [email protected] or + 420 511 205 320
FRANCE
Cancer-Bio-Santé (CBS)
5 Avenue Irène Joliot-Curie, 31000 Toulouse
Website: www.cancerbiosante.fr/fr (in French)
Designed for: Life sciences startups focusing on innovative bio- and nano-technologies, especially related to oncology and aging
Size: 54,000 square feet
Opened: 2009
Contact: Pierre Montoriol, president; inquiries directed to “Contact” page of website or +33 (0)5 34 25 50 40
Lille-Eurasante Bio Incubator
310 Avenue Eugène Avinée, Eurasante Bio-business Park, 59120 Loos
Website: lille.eurasante.com/bio-incubator
Designed for: Companies enjoy access to up to €100,000 (about $112,000) in pre-seed financing, and up to €1 million (almost $1.12 million) in seed financing
Size: 2,000 square meters (21,528 square feet) of laboratories, offices, and shared facilities
Opened: 2000, following certification in 1999
Contact: Etienne Vervaecke, general manager of Eurasanté, +33 (0)3 28 55 90 60
Montpellier Méditerranée Métropole Business and Innovation Centre (BIC)
Consists of Cap Alpha (see below), Cap Oméga (focused on IT and communications startups), and Montpellier International Business Incubator (MIBI; focused on international companies and French companies for which the export market represents more than 50% of their total revenues).
- • Cap Alpha
Avenue de l’Europe, 34830 Clapiers - Website: www.invest-in-montpellier.com/entreprendre-innovate/getting-assistance-your-project; www.entreprendre-montpellier.com/entreprendre-creer-son-entreprise-montpellier/etre-accompagne-par-le-bic-de-montpellier (in French)
- Designed for: Startups in biotech as well as cleantech, electronics, and robotics
- Size: 3,500 square meters (37,674 square feet)
- Opened: 1987 (as Montpellier Agglomération Business and Innovation Centre); 2001 (renamed when Montpellier Méditerranée Métropole succeeded Montpellier Agglomération); 2011 (renovated)
- Contact: [email protected] or 04.67.59.30.00
GERMANY
Bayer HealthCare CoLaborator™
Müllerstrasse 178, 13353 Berlin
Website: www.colaborator.berlin.bayer.com/en/about-the-colaborator/index.php
Designed for: Startup life-science companies whose technology platforms, drug targets or drug candidates may align with Bayer’s interests; Housed at the Bayer research campus in Berlin, one of the two major R&D sites of Bayer HealthCare
Size: 800 square meters (8,611 square feet), of which about 420 square meters (4,521 square feet) will consist of laboratories. Designed to house up to nine small companies
Opened: 2014
Contact: [email protected]
Bio City Leipzig
Technologietransfergesellschaft mbH, Deutscher Platz 5a, D – 04103 Leipzig
Website: bio-city-leipzig.de
Designed for: Start-ups and new companies focused on biotechnology and biomedicine
Size: 215,000 square feet of individual laboratory and office facilities
Opened: 2003
Contact: Dr. Gerald Böhm, managing director, +49 (0) 341 2 12 07-0
BioInnovationsZentrumDresden (BioInnovationCenter Dresden)
Tatzberg 47, D-01307 Dresden
Website: www.tzdresden.de/bioz-location.html
Designed for: Startups specializing in molecular bio-engineering; Joint venture of the TechnologieZentrumDresden GmbH (TZD) and the Technische Universität Dresden
Size: About 10,000 square meters (107,639 square feet) of lab space. Center is part of the TechnologieZentrumDresden, which includes the Biotech¬nology Centre (Biotec) and the Medical Theoretical Centre, institutes of the Dresden University of Technology
Opened: 1993
Contact: Gundi Hoelzer-Czech, location manager, + 49 351 796 3030
Biotechnologie Park Luckenwalde
Im Biotechnologiepark, TGZ I, 14943 Luckenwalde
Website: www.bio-luck.de
Designed for: Biotechnology startups; Owned by the Structural and Economic Development Corp. of the District of Teltow-Flaeming (SWFG mbH)
Size: 9,000 square meters (96,875 square feet) for technology and business companies, including 4,000 square meters (43,056 square feet) of labs and 2,900 square meters (31,215 square feet) of offices within 28-acre campus; lab space suitable for S2 genetic work
Opened: 2011
Contact: Christoph Weber, department manager, +49 3371 681-100
ITALY
Alimenta
Located within Parco Tecnologico Padano, Via Einstein Albert, Lodi, Lo 26900
Designed for: Academic and company spinoffs and startups in the agro-food and health sector; managed by Parco Tecnologico Padano; companies proceed through a pre-Incubation phase designed to help entrepreneurs verify the sustainability of their project, followed by an Incubation Phase where startups are offered support and legal, financial and organizational advice.
Size: More than 2,400 square meters (25,833 square feet) of laboratories and offices
Opened: 2006
Contact: Parco Tecnologico Padano, +39 0371 4662200
Discovery Incubator (Bioindustry Park Silvano Fumero)
Via Ribes 5, Colleretto Giacosa, Torino Italia 10010; Park maintains a branch office in Naples on Via Mezzocannone, 16 inside the Federico II University labs
Website: www.bioindustrypark.eu
Designed for: Startup high-tech biotechnological companies
Size: 1,000-square-meter (10,764-square-foot) building
Opened: Park opened 1998 (as Bioindustry Park Canavese or BiPCa); renamed 2009 in honor of its founder Silvano Fumero, manager and scientist who died prematurely in 2008
Contact: Paolo Di Silvestro, [email protected] or +39 0125 561311
THE NETHERLANDS
Utrecht University—Stichting (Foundation) Incubator
Yalelaan 40 3584 CM Utrecht (at the Utrecht Science Park De Uithof)
Website: www.uu.nl/sites/default/files/ubd_duurzaam_life_sciences_incubator.pdf
Designed for: Startups in the bioscience field
- • Alexander Numangebouw (Alexander Numan Business Centre)
- Website: utrechtholdings.nl/?page_id=10
- Size: 8,500 square meters (91,493 square feet), of which three floors totaling well over 2,000 square meters (21,528 square feet) are used as an incubator facility exclusively for life sciences start-ups.
- Opened: 2004
- • Life Sciences Incubator
- Website: www.uu.nl/sites/default/files/ubd_duurzaam_life_sciences_incubator.pdf; utrechtholdings.nl/?page_id=2221
- Size: Approximately 6,200 square meters (64,583 square feet) of gross leasing area, including approximately 1,600 square meters (17,222 square feet) of laboratories, and 1,700 square meters (nearly 18,300 square feet) of offices
- Opened: Set to open autumn 2015
- Contact: Oscar Schoots, CEO, director of Universiteit Utrecht Holding B.V., the UMC Utrecht Holding B.V., UMC Utrecht Exploitatie B.V. and Stichting Incubator, [email protected] or +31 30 253 5969
NORWAY
Oslo Cancer Cluster Incubator
Ullernchausseen 64/66, 0310 Oslo (within the Oslo Cancer Cluster Innovation Park)
Website: occincubator.com
Designed for: Promising oncology biotechs seeking to commercialize
Size: 3,000 square meters (32,292 square feet)
Opened: Cluster will move into the Innovation Park and Incubator during July/August; Official opening set for August 24, at a ceremony to be attended by Prime Minister Erna Solberg
Contact: Bjørn Klem, general manager, [email protected] or + 47 924 16 156
SPAIN
BIC Granada
Parque Tecnológico de Ciencias de la Salud, Avda. de la Innovación 1, 18016 Armilla, Granada
Website: bicgranada.org/en/index.cfm
Designed for: Technology-based startups; Incubator is a “CEEI” (Centro Europeo de Empresas e Innovación) within Andalusia’s Agency of Innovation and Development (IDEA Agency)
Size: Six blocks totaling 10,388.74 square meters (111,823 square feet)
Opened: 2004
Contact: María Jesús González Campos, director, [email protected]; inquiries directed to [email protected] or +34 958 750 570
Bio-Incubator at Boecillo Technology Park
Parque Tecnológico de Boecillo, 205, 47151 Boecillo, Valladolid
Website: www.mercadosbiotecnologicos.com/en/entity.cfm?eid=101; https://empresas.jcyl.es (Spanish)
Designed for: Companies in the biotechnology sector; biotechnology research in all fields
Size: Nine individual laboratories, each of 40 square meters (about 431 square feet), plus office space available from 20 to 35 square meters (215 to 377 square feet)
Opened: 2011
Contact: Beatriz Casado, Director of Innovation and Entrepreneurship ICE; Carmen Verdejo/Nuria Trobos, Bio incubator; inquiries directed to [email protected] or +34 983 549919/ +34 628 718525
Parc Científic de Barcelona or PCB (Barcelona Science Park)
Baldiri Reixac, 4-12 i 15· 08028 Barcelona, on the campus of the University of Barcelona and Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya
Website: www.pcb.ub.edu/portal/home
Designed for: Companies, R&D centers and other organizations within the biomedical, environmental, IT, and agri-food sectors
Size: 60,000 square meters (645,835 square feet) of laboratories and offices.
Opened: 1997 as Spain’s first bio-incubator
Contact: [email protected] or 93 402 90 60 (general) or +34 934 020 159 (space inquiries)
Parc de Recerca UAB (PRUAB; Research Park of Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona or Autonomous University of Barcelona)
Can Domènech avenue (Campus de la UAB), 08193 Bellaterra (Cerdanyola del Vallès) – Barcelona
Website: www.uab.cat/parc-recerca/english
Designed for: Newly-created companies whose space requirements are small enough to accommodate 1 or 2 people
Size: 500 square meters (5,382 square feet) of incubation space, of which 175 square meters within Research Module B is designed for biotech use
Opened: 2007
Contact: Buenaventura Guamis, [email protected] or 93 586 88 01; Inquiries directed to [email protected] or 93 586 88 91
SWEDEN
Lund Life Science Incubator
Medicon Village, Scheelevägen 2 223 81 Lund
Website: www.lundlsi.se
Designed for: Early-stage life sciences companies in specialties such as pharmaceutical, diagnostics, biotechnology, nanomedicine, chemistry and materials as well as medical technology, nanotechnology, and food technology; Incubator’s three-phase program focused on startup, development and growth; Part of the Swedish national incubator program Business Incubation for Growth Sweden (B.I.G. Sweden), run by Almi Företagspartner
Size: 4,880 square meters (52,528 square feet)
Opened: 2007 (as Ideon Bioincubator); 2012 (moved to Medicon Village)
Contact: Örjan Norberg, CEO, +46 (0)70 309 18 68
Uppsala Innovation Centre (UIC)
Designed for: Life science and other startups; UIC is industry-independent, though life sciences accounts for 42% of companies; Access to five different UIC Business programs (UIC Business Startup, UIC Business Lab, UIC Business Prep, UIC Business Accelerator and UIC Alumni), each suitable for businesses within different phases of idea commercialization; access to about 70 business coaches within all industries, all connected to UIC.
Owned equally by STUNS (the Foundation for Collaboration between the Universities in Uppsala, Business, and the Public Sector), the municipality of Uppsala, SLU Holding, and Uppsala University Holding Company. UIC is part of Vinnova’s—Sweden’s innovation agency—incubation support program, which promotes the development of new knowledge-intensive companies with a major international market.
Size: Not applicable; UIC doesn’t rent premises, but has business partners who offer premises to UIC companies.
- • UIC Uppsala (head office)
- Mailing address: Uppsala Science Park SE-751 83 Uppsala
Visiting address: Dag Hammarskjölds väg 10 B, Uppsala - Website: uic.se/en
- Opened: 1999
- Contact: Per Bengtsson, CEO, [email protected] or +46 (0)18-477 04 41; general inquiries to [email protected] or switchboard, +46 (0)18-477 04 40
- • UIC Södertälje
- Biovation Park, Building 401, Kvarnbergagatan 6-8, SE-151 85 Södertälje (former AstraZeneca R&D site in Södertälje, south of Stockholm)
- Website: uic.se/en/uic-sodertalje
- Size: Not applicable; UIC doesn’t rent premises. UIC’s business partner Biovation Park offers premises to UIC companies.
- Opened: 2012
- Contact: Anders Nordström, [email protected] or +46 (0)70-546 38 06
- • UIC Östhammar
- Uppsala Innovation Centre, SKB, Norra Tullportsgatan 3, SE-742 31 Östhammar
- Website: uic.se/en
- Size: Not applicable; UIC doesn’t rent premises
- Opened: 2010
- Contact: Peter Funning, business development advisor and head of UIC Östhammar, [email protected] or +46 (0)18-477 04 48
UNITED KINGDOM
BioCity Group
Four locations, and one future location
Website: www.biocity.co.uk
Contact: Glenn Crocker, D.Phil, CEO
- • BioCity Nottingham
- Pennyfoot Street, Nottingham, NG1 1GF
- Website: www.biocity.co.uk/biocity/nottingham
- Designed for: Early stage companies in the life sciences sector.
- Size: 116,000 square feet over three buildings; Former BASF facility donated in 2001 to Nottingham Trent University, which joined with The University of Nottingham and East Midlands Development Agency to redevelop the site into the first BioCity incubator.
- Opened: 2003
- Contact: Toby Reid, director; inquiries directed to [email protected] or +44 0115 912 4210
- • BioCity Scotland
- Bo’Ness Road, Newhouse, Lanarkshire, ML1 5UH (former MSD research facility at Newhouse)
- Website: www.biocity.co.uk/biocity/scotland
- Designed for: Provides tailored bench space, incubation, grow on and large laboratory space for companies at all stages of their life cycle; Joint venture with Roslin BioCentre. In April, BioCity Scotland launched an “innovation hub” designed to grow Scotland’s life sciences sector by partnering with biopharma and big data companies, Scotland’s 16 universities, NHS Scotland and Scotland’s eight innovation centers.
- Size: More than 130,000 square feet of high specification chemistry and biology laboratories and office space
- Opened: 2012
- Contact: Diane Harbison, managing director; inquiries directed to [email protected] or 01698 539 607
- • BioHub at Alderley Park
- Alderley Edge, Cheshire, SK10 4TG
- Website: www.biohubatalderley.co.uk
- Designed for: Early-stage and growing firms operating in drug discovery and development, med-tech, and healthcare industries; site is a former AstraZeneca campus managed on the company’s behalf by BioCity, and acquired March 2014 by Manchester Science Partnerships (MSP)
- Size: 86,000 square feet of laboratory and offices; In March, MSP revealed plans to join partner real estate firm Bruntwood in redeveloping a former AstraZeneca lab facility into a 300,000 square-foot center for “innovative and ambitious” businesses. The center “will include a variety of workspaces from high-end specialist labs to flexible offices and manufacturing facilities,” MSP said.
- Opened: 2013
- Contact: [email protected] or [email protected]; +44 (0) 1625 514000 or +44 (0) 1625 514000
- • MediCity Nottingham
- D6 Building West, Thane Road, Nottingham, NG90 6BH (site of former Boots International headquarters, within Nottingham Enterprise Zone)
- Website: www.biocity.co.uk/medicity/nottingham
- Designed for: Startups in diagnostics, as well as consumer healthcare, medical technology, and beauty products; MediCity is a collaboration between Alliance Boots and BioCity
- Size: 100,000-square-foot “D6” building
- Opened: 2013
- Contact: David Browning, director; inquiries directed to [email protected] or +44 (0) 115 896 1980
- • MediCity Scotland
- Bo’Ness Road, Newhouse, Lanarkshire, ML1 5UH (former MSD research facility at Newhouse)
- Website: www.biocity.co.uk/medicity/scotland
- Designed for: Healthcare and wellness companies focused on commercialization of innovation in Scotland; partners to include academic institutions, including the Universities of Glasgow and Strathclyde, the NHS, and large and small companies
- Size: 11,000 square feet
- Opened: Established 2014 with UK government awarding £1.2 million ($1.8 million) toward £4 million ($6.1 million) cost
- Contact: [email protected]
Johnson & Johnson Innovation Centre
1 Chapel Place, London, W1G 0BG
Website: www.jnjinnovation.com/global-innovation-centers/london
Designed for: Focuses on accelerating early innovation and enhancing opportunities for collaboration and investment across J&J’s global pharmaceutical, medical device & diagnostics, and consumer healthcare businesses; London center is one of four J&J Innovation centers worldwide
Size: Unvailable
Opened: 2013
Contact: Patrick Verheyen, head; Inquiries are directed to [email protected]; London +44 (0) 207 573 4500
University of Manchester Innovation Centre (UMIC)
The Incubator Building, 48 Grafton Street, Manchester, M13 9XX
Website: www.umic.co.uk
Campus consists of Manchester Incubator Building and Core Technology Facility, as well as North Campus Incubator for high-tech companies established by the University of Manchester, and One Central Park, a joint venture between Manchester’s three universities, MANCAT and Manchester Science Park that offers higher education programs under one roof alongside opportunities for nurturing enterprise and growing businesses
Contact: Inquiries directed to [email protected] or + 0161 606 7200 (general enquiries); Marie-Ann Sutton, contracts and client liaison executive, [email protected] or 0161 603 7648 (tenancy enquiries)
Manchester Incubator Building
48 Grafton Street, Manchester, M13 9XX
Website: www.umic.co.uk/manchester-incubator-building
Designed for: Biotech start-ups, R&D satellites from pharmaceutical companies and service based companies
Size: 86,500 square feet of bioscience incubator facilities and related infrastructure; equipped for functioning at ACGM Containment Level 2 with the capability of conversion to Level 3.
Opened: 1999 as Manchester Bioscience Incubator
Core Technology Facility
46 Grafton Street, Manchester, M13 9NT
Website: www.umic.co.uk/core-technology-facility
Designed for: Biotechnology and high-tech startups or small- and medium-sized enterprises
Size: 173,000 square feet of “grow-on” and incubation space, designed to complement the Manchester Incubator Building; equipped for functioning at ACGM Containment Level 2 with the capability of conversion to Level 3; access to Bioinformatics area for companies specializing in bioinformatics, medical informatics and all forms of software/computing development and commercialization
Opened: 2006