Regional Innovation Monitor Plus 2016
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30 May 2016 Regional Innovation Monitor Plus 2016 Regional Innovation Report Flanders (Production related biotechnology) To the European Commission Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs Directorate-General Directorate F – Innovation and Advanced Manufacturing www.technopolis-group.com Regional Innovation Monitor Plus 2016 Regional Innovation Report Flanders (Production related biotechnology) technopolis |group| in cooperation with Asel Doranova, Technopolis Group Belgium Table of Contents 1. Advanced Manufacturing: Production related biotechnology in Flanders 6! 1.1 Overview of performance and trends 6! 1.2 Business sector perspective 10! 1.3 Scientific research potential 11! 1.4 Role of intermediary institutions 13! 1.4.1 Umbrella organisations 13! 1.4.2 Science parks and incubators 14! 1.5 Developing skills for the future 16! 1.6 Major investment projects 18! 1.7 International cooperation 20! 1.8 Policy support and delivery mechanisms 23! 1.9 Good practice cases 24! 1.10 Leveraging the existing potential 27! 1.10.1 Opportunities 27! 1.10.2 Challenges 28! 1.10.3 Implications for cross regional cooperation 29! 2. Regional Innovation Performance Trends, Governance and Instruments 32! 2.1 Recent trends in innovation performance and identified challenges 32! 2.1.1 R&D intensity in Flanders 32! 2.1.2 Flanders in the EU Regional Innovation Scoreboard 34! 2.1.3 Challenges 34! 2.2 Institutional framework and set-up 36! 2.2.1 Public bodies active in the STI field in Flanders 36! 2.3 Regional innovation policy mix 39! 2.3.1 Policy priorities 39! 2.3.2 Policy mix 41! 2.4 Appraisal of regional innovation policies 45! 2.5 Policy good practice 47! 2.6 Possible future orientations and opportunities 49! Appendix A Bibliography 51! Appendix B Stakeholders consulted 53! Appendix C Research labs at VIB addressing industrial biotechnology 53! Appendix D Important companies in the industrial biotechnology sector in Flanders 54! Regional Innovation Monitor Plus 2016 i Table of Figures Figure 1: Estimate of Gross Margin and Employment (FTEs, full-time equivalents) of biobased economy in Flanders ......................................................................................... 7! Figure 2: EPO and EPO-PCT patents statistics in the industrial biotech area ............... 8! Figure 3: Share of Belgium and Flanders in the EU-15 patent portfolio in Industrial Biotechnology ................................................................................................................... 8! Figure 4: Total R&D personnel and researchers, in business enterprise sector by economic activities: 100% bio-based transformation sector (2011) .............................. 17! Figure 5: Total R&D personnel and researchers, in business enterprise sector by economic activities: Partly bio-based transformation sector (2011) .............................. 17! Figure 6: Major members if the BIG-C mega cluster ..................................................... 21! Figure 7: GBEV (indicated as Gent/Terneuzen) and other biofuel and bioenergy clusters in Europe ........................................................................................................... 25! Figure 8: Private partners in Ghent Bioeconomy Valley ............................................... 25! Figure 9: R&D intensity in Flanders: total and by sector of performance, 1993-2012 . 32! Figure 10: International comparison of the R&D intensity for GERD, 2012 ................ 33! Figure 11: Rate of company start-ups (%, average 2008-2012) .................................... 35! Figure 12: Public bodies active in the STI field in Flanders .......................................... 37! Figure 13: Doman and application areas of ‘Flanders Make’ ........................................ 42! List of Tables Table 1: Key industrial biotechnology companies in Flanders ...................................... 10! Table 2: Scientific organisations in the area ................................................................... 12! Table 3: VIB research groups dealing with industrial biotechnology topics .................. 12! Table 4: Graduate programmes relevant for industrial biotechnology offered in Flanders .......................................................................................................................... 16! Table 5: RDI projects where Flanders cooperate with international partners ............. 22! Table 6: Overview of the various actors in the STI domain in Flanders ....................... 38! Table 7: Innovation hubs of Flander’s STI policy .......................................................... 40! Table 8: Regional innovation support measures ........................................................... 43! ii Regional Innovation Monitor Plus 2016 PREFACE In the context of the growth and investment package set out in the Investment Plan of the European Commission, the Regional Innovation Monitor Plus (RIM Plus) provides a unique platform for sharing knowledge and know-how on major innovation and industrial policy trends in in some 200 regions across EU20 Member States. Launched in 2010, the Regional Innovation Monitor aimed at supporting sharing of intelligence on innovation policies across EU regions. Building upon the experience gained and results obtained during the period 2010-2012, the RIM Plus 2013-2014 provided practical guidance to regions on how to use the collected information, via a network of regional experts. Since 2014, the RIM Plus has introduced a thematic focus on advanced manufacturing. The RIM Plus 2015-2016 evolved from a general monitoring of innovation policies towards establishing a more thematic focus in selected areas in order to contribute to improving the competitiveness of European regions. Particularly, the RIM Plus aims through its activities and in close cooperation with the regional stakeholders and other relevant initiatives to: •! Contribute to the development of new and open spaces of collaboration and exchange on advanced manufacturing, each with a clearly defined thematic focus. •! Play an enabling role in providing evidence-based information on specific themes and bring in outside perspective from other regions. •! Map out regional practices in support of advanced manufacturing and relevant pilot/demo projects and work towards involving the relevant stakeholders. •! Provide an easy access and comparative overview of regional innovation policies and relevant actions in the field of advanced manufacturing. •! Share the lessons learned with the European Commission services to feed into the preparation of future programmes. The main aim of 30 regional reports is to provide a description and analysis of developments in the area advanced manufacturing with a clearly defined thematic focus and regional innovation policy, taking into account the specific context of the region as well as general trends. All regional innovation reports are produced in a standardised way using a common methodological and conceptual framework, in order to allow for horizontal analysis, with a view to preparing the Final EU Regional Innovation Monitor Plus report. European Commission official responsible for the project is Alberto Licciardello ([email protected]). The present report was prepared by Asel Doranova (Asel.Doranova@technopolis- group.com). The contents and views expressed in this report do not necessarily reflect the opinions or policies of the Regions, Member States or the European Commission. Copyright of the document belongs to the European Commission. Neither the European Commission, nor any person acting on its behalf, may be held responsible for the use to which information contained in this document may be put, or for any errors which, despite careful preparation and checking, may appear. Further information: https://ec.europa.eu/growth/tools-databases/regional-innovation-monitor Regional Innovation Monitor Plus 2016 1 Executive Summary 1. Advanced Manufacturing: Production related biotechnology In this report, production related biotechnology is defined largely as the industrial biotechnology (also called white biotech) sectors, that focus on bioprocessing technologies for production enzymes, chemicals, biobased materials, biofuels, vitamins, paper, dyes, food, etc. In addition, the selected biobased materials related developments scoped under the chemical sector are linked to industrial biotechnology and the biobased economy in general. Many activities in agricultural biotechnology (green biotech) also have a strong relevance to industrial biotech and biobased economy. Industrial biotechnology and the bio-based economy is a rapidly evolving field, which offers numerous opportunities for smart specialisation of Flanders. The production related biotech industries have maintained healthy growth despite economic crisis and decline in overall regional industry. Biobased economy industries take up to 9% of the gross margin of the industry in Flanders and 5.7% of employment in the Flemish industry. The most rapidly developing area is biofuels. There is already a considerable research specialisation in industrial biotechnology, covering all areas of industrial biotech. There is an increasing interest from the Flemish chemical industry and an increasing demand for bio-based products. Several initiatives are already being taken in Flanders by a number of stakeholders to develop and implement the value chains defined as priorities in the roadmap for industrial biotech. At the same time there are still many challenges