Opinion by Susanne Trillingsgaard Venø, Senior Project Manager, and Krestian Borring, Project Manager, Projects and Partnerships, Danish Life Science Cluster.
Europe is strong in world-class research, but lags behind when it comes to translating research results into new medicines, companies and solutions. If Europe is to strengthen its global position in life science, it needs stronger connections between research, businesses, investors and innovation ecosystems – as well as closer European collaboration on commercialisation.
Every day, promising biomedical research results are created at European universities and hospitals. Europe is home to some of the world’s leading universities and research environments in biology, medicine and biotechnology – environments that produce both cutting-edge research and highly skilled talent.
But far too many research results never turn into new medicines or health solutions. Not because the research lacks quality, but because the path from the laboratory to the market is still characterized by fragmented support systems, silos between stakeholders and a lack of access to the right skills, facilities and risk capital.
If Europe is serious about strengthening its position as a global life science region, investing in research is not enough – we must also support the commercialisation of research results. We need to become significantly better at translating research into tangible solutions, companies and workplaces that create value for both patients and society.
That requires stronger connections between researchers, businesses, investors, innovation environments and the many stakeholders working at the interface between research and commercialisation. If Europe want to play a stronger role in the global life science race, it also requires much closer European collaboration across national borders and greater alignment in the implementation of rules and legislation.
The Draghi report from September 2024 directly points to a broad European competitiveness problem, with the central point being that Europe is good at research – but worse at getting value out of it. Roughly the same result is seen in Analysis of Competitiveness in a Nordic Perspective from Copenhagen Economics and the Nordic Council of Ministers, which analyses competitiveness in the five Nordic countries.
Wants to create a new common European network
It is precisely this issue that we address in the new pan-European initiative TransBioNet, which has partners from six countries. Through a new joint European network of clusters, technology transfer units, accelerators and innovation actors, we will strengthen the infrastructure and competencies that help promising biomedical discoveries all the way to new medicine sand treatments. We will help the best and most promising new discoveries through the many steps between the laboratory and the patient.
We will build Europe’s first joint network of so-called ‘knowledge valorisation intermediaries’, such as clusters, TTOs, accelerators and innovation environments. TransBioNet will create stronger connections between the capabilities and resources that already exist across Europe, but are too rarely brought together effectively across national borders.
We will create six interconnected strands – from common frameworks to practical support:
- Policy and Charter: Framework and standardisation of project organisation and governance
- Digital platform: One point of access to tools, knowledge and matchmaking
- Assessment Toolkit: Concrete tool for assessing the maturity level of science and market potential
- Infrastructure Atlas: Mapping and making infrastructures visible
- Training and networking: Among other things, webinars, exchange stays and a Community of Practice
- Open calls: Cascade funding and mentoring for 12 early projects
TransBioNet is not about inventing new support systems, but about connecting existing systems and enabling them to work better together through shared tools and methods.
The Danish experience must be brought into play
Although we have not yet reached our goal, Denmark has for many years focused on creating a competitive life science ecosystem through strong collaboration between research, businesses, hospitals, investors and public-sector stakeholders.
The Danish Life Science Cluster brings this experience into TransBioNet.
We will help map how European countries today support innovation and the translation of research into new solutions. At the same time, we will bring together researchers, companies, technology transfer entities, investors and authorities to identify the barriers that continue to prevent promising research results from reaching patients.
The ambition is not only to learn from the best European experiences, but also to bring the Danish positions of strength into play in the development of a common European charter for knowledge valorization in drug discovery.
If Europe is to become more successful in translating research into new medicines, it requires that we build on the environments that are already producing results and at the same time create stronger links between them. Denmark and the Danish life science sector will play an important role in this.
Only when more promising discoveries make it all the way to patients will Europe fulfil its full potential as a life science region.
