About the sector
Wallonia - your dynamic high-tech partner
Wallonia, one of the three administrative and governmental regions which comprise the federal state of Belgium, is well and truly on the move. Over the past twenty years, several sectors have undergone a real technological boom, such as aeronautics industry, aerospace, information and communication technologies, telecommunications, biotechnology, new materials, motor subcontracting and the agribusiness.
Located at the heart of the European Union - a market of 371 million consumers - Wallonia (16.844 km2) benefits from a sophisticated infrastructure of airports, motorways, waterways and high-speed railway networks. Moreover, Wallonia can be proud of fully-developing regional airports and of the high-speed train (TGV).
Productivity in the region is among the highest in the world. Small- and medium-sized companies now account for 95% of the regional economic fabric. Traditionally open to foreign markets and although home to less than 1% of Europe´s population, Wallonia accounts for 1% of total world trade.
But it´s the human potential that provides the main reason for today´s upbeat dynamism. The region offers an articulate workforce with matchless levels and breadths of education. Wallonia, with its nine university centres of learning, is world-renowned for being innovation- and research-driven. Some 11,000 people are currently employed in about 300 private, public or university research centres.
New products, creating companies, world fame: Wallonia is ready to take up the challenge.
Well-being and quality of life
While, a few decades ago, the concept of health was summed up by the absence of illness, today it encompasses other factors, such as well-being, personal growth or even quality of life. So this sector can no longer be characterised by the production of medicines or vaccines, as it now incorporates food supplements, dietary products, medical information technology, and very fashionable sectors such as biotechnologies (or "life sciences"), genomics and proteomics, that are considered meaningful for the future of humanity. Fields in which Wallonia is gradually beginning to get in tune thanks to the presence on its territory of successful businesses, whether they are the subsidiaries of leading international groups or SMEs working in a niche sector, as well as thanks to that ever-stronger partnership between those same businesses and research centres, often of universities.
It is a well-known fact that the costs of health care are growing in the European countries. This is due to technological advances (that are making health care more sophisticated) and a population with an increasingly longer life expectancy. In the same vein, the medicines that will emerge on the market over the next few years are likely to be what are called "therapeutic proteins", which have fewer side effects for patients. Modelling tools could also enable laboratories to predict, from the outset, the effectiveness of a treatment on the targeted diseases. Finally, early detection of disorders in patients by diagnostic kits is also one of the factors to be taken into account in the medicine of the future. It is evident that the health sector is changing. Hence the need for businesses to continually adapt to it or even to anticipate needs and demand. This is precisely what was done with the recent formation in Liège of GIGA, the "Groupement Interfacultaire de Génomique Appliquée" (Interfaculty Grouping of Applied Genomics) of the University of Liège, which brings together researchers and businesses in the same buildings, with the idea of facilitating the advancement of research and science. This idea appears to be gaining ground, as Wallonia, where biotechnology and research in this field are blossoming (5,000 jobs), will soon become part of a world biotechnology cluster, alongside San Diego, Boston, Lyon and Bavaria.
In pole position globally
In the Walloon region, enterprises operating in the health sector include, firstly, the subsidiaries of leading international groups, either American, British or French, groups that had no hesitation in choosing Wallonia for very specific reasons : a scientific know-how often renowned worldwide and linked to dynamic universities with a very high profile internationally, strong partnerships between research centres and enterprises which are often favourable for the creation of spin-offs, the presence of science parks where every step is taken to promote closer links and contacts, a dense and accessible motorway network, a widely-represented multilingualism, a skilled workforce, etc. Nowadays, these leading groups are also proving to be important job sources for our region and excellent ambassadors for potential future investments in the Walloon region.In the Walloon region, enterprises operating in the health sector include, firstly, the subsidiaries of leading international groups, either American, British or French, groups that had no hesitation in choosing Wallonia for very specific reasons : a scientific know-how often renowned worldwide and linked to dynamic universities with a very high profile internationally, strong partnerships between research centres and enterprises which are often favourable for the creation of spin-offs, the presence of science parks where every step is taken to promote closer links and contacts, a dense and accessible motorway network, a widely-represented multilingualism, a skilled workforce, etc. Nowadays, these leading groups are also proving to be important job sources for our region and excellent ambassadors for potential future investments in the Walloon region.
Secondly, alongside these leading groups are Walloon enterprises which have sometimes even succeeded in gaining a pole position globally thanks to their work in sectors with a high technological value : the synthesis of oligonucleotides, the production of DNA microchips, in-vitro diagnostic products, the production of reagents for use in medical laboratories, the supply of radio-isotopes intended for nuclear medicine, the synthesis to order of products in the field of fine organic chemistry (particularly for the pharmaceutical industry), the production of radiotherapy implants, etc. In other words, as many sectors in which our businesses distinguish themselves a little more every day by their know-how. In the same line, the whole of the medical equipment sector also stands out for its excellence : heart surgery equipment (cardiopulmonary by-pass sets, etc.), kits for diagnosing auto-immune diseases or human enteric and respiratory type pathologies, disposable products for medical and surgical applications (catheters, probes, masks, sterile surgical sutures, etc.), manufacture of surgical instruments, devices for electrosurgery or robots (particularly for laparoscopic surgery), supply of the technology and support necessary for the production of medicines, and manufacture of medical equipment to facilitate the advancement of research (such as an intensive phototherapy system making the treatment of premature and newborn babies less distressing). The choice is therefore huge and this presentation of not comprehensive. Information technology applied to the medical and health sector is also present in Wallonia thanks to businesses that have developed appliances designed for remote medicine, the creation of computerised medical records (for example, provision of a detailed report on an operation undergone by a patient) or even electronic data capture
Ready for the international market
Finally, let us take a look, once again at a sample of it only, at the "well-being" aspect of health, with the cosmetic sector doubled with the food sector, a field in which Walloon SMEs have been able to target niche segments : production of micro-organisms (yeasts, moulds, bacteria) or by-products such as enzymes, which are in demand in biotechnology and pharmacy (among other things for improving digestion or speeding-up the healing of wounds), dietary products, food supplements, pharmaceutical quality nutriments, natural products for cosmetic use and essential oils intended for health, dietary and beauty purposes alike.
Ensuring the advancement of research, adding to our knowledge and improving the population´s state of health, these are indisputably the credos of our Walloon businesses. Businesses that aim to be dynamic and focused on the future and that provide products, processes and services which are particularly well suited for export and ready for the international market.
AGORIA - Hospibel
Boulevard A. Reyers 80
1030 BRUSSELS
BELGIUM
Tel: +32 2 706 80 01
Fax: +32 2 706 80 09
E-mail: laurent.hellebaut@agoria.be
Agoria is a multi-sector federation for the technology industry, and represents more than 1 300 companies active in 11 different sectors.
Hospibel is Agoria’s export club, and groups together companies active in the field of providing goods and services for medical and hospital purposes (medical technology in a broad sense).
The aim of Hospibel is to group together the most competent manufacturers, consultants and other Belgian entrepreneurs in the medical and hospital sectors in order to encourage and sustain their exports. Considered as a whole, their product ranges cover many of the needs of current world medicine.
Hospibel disseminates commercial information to its members and participates in and/or organises events in Belgium and/or abroad.