Beyond the Lab: Making Europe's Biotech Ambition Real

Biotechnology is no longer just a field of scientific promise; it is emerging as a strategic asset for Europe’s future: a lever for industrial competitiveness, food security, climate resilience, and supply independence.

Consider the impact already visible today: bio-based plastics replacing fossil-derived materials, fermentation processes reducing the carbon footprint of chemical production, biological solutions transforming sustainable agriculture and novel foods and proteins changing the way we feed the continent. These are not distant visions anymore – they are realities reshaping European industries. Yet despite world-class research, Europe continues to struggle with scaling innovations from lab to market. The gap between ambition and implementation remains wide.

Biotech Act II changes the equation. But only if the right minds shape its direction.

That is why, together with our co-host Ministry of Future Affairs, we are convening a breakfast roundtable, bringing together experts from research, industry, and policy to explore a shared path forward – tackling the real barriers: bridging the "Valley of Death", aligning EU instruments like ECF, IPCEI and FP10 with industrial needs and regulation across Biotech Act I and II, and strengthening bio-based value chains.

What We'll Tackle

• How do we turn biotech into a genuine industrial and supply infrastructure for Europe?
• What investment architectures and scaling capacities are missing — and how do we build them?
• How do we make Europe the place where biotech innovations are not just created, but deployed?
• How can biotech underpin strategic autonomy and long-term supply security?

Moderated by Katrin Mögele and Susann Vierbauch, Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft

Practical Information

• Where: Fraunhofer EU Office, Brussels
• When: September 29, 2026 | Doors open at 08:45 | Roundtable 09:00 – 11:00
• Format: Closed
• Coffee, pastries and fresh fruit will be served

Register now