Programme
Two days packed with opportunity
Morning plenary
Impressionniste
08:30 → 09:30
Registration & Coffee
09:30 → 09:50
Welcome by Sylvie Ponchaut & Xavier Hormaechea (BioWin)
09:50 → 10:30
Fireside chat - Belgium in action: How biopharma and health-tech Leaders accelerate R&D excellence
Join a high-level fireside chat between two of Belgium’s leading health and life sciences CEOs,one from Wallonia, the other from Flanders,as they share how their companies are staying ahead in global R&D. This engaging conversation will uncover how AI, agile ecosystems and academic-industry partnerships are reshaping innovation strategies. What does it take to maintain Belgium’s leadership in health-tech and biopharma? From building impactful collaborations to navigating funding dynamics, this session offers insights from two leaders who are shaping the future of our sector.
→ Speakers TBC
10:30 → 10:45
Coffee break
Partnering
Félicien
10:30 → 16:30
Organise multiple one-to-one meetings with a specialised and experienced audience across the biopharma and health-tech ecosystem.
This is your chance to network with other industry professionals and make some valuable connections.
Morning breakout sessions (parallel tracks)
Track 1 - Advanced therapies
Surréaliste
Sponsored by
10:45 → 10:55
Ecosystem snapshot - Advanced therapies in Belgium: What we’ve learned, what comes next
A sharp, data-driven analysis based on expert and BioWin member input: past wins, tough lessons, and critical gaps in Belgium’s advanced therapies ecosystem. This sets the tone for what must change, and what must scale.
→ Speaker TBC
10:55 → 11:55
Interactive Panel - A forward look at Belgium’s advanced therapies ecosystem through lessons learned
Top leaders from industry, policy and research challenge each other in this interactive conversation grounded in real-world experience. By unpacking key lessons from success stories, they’ll look forward - debating the strategic choices needed to strengthen Belgium’s position as a resilient, globally impactful hub for advanced therapies.
→ Speakers: Christian Homsy (Biotech Executive), Claire Beuneu (AFMPS – CoE ATMP), Koen Debackere (UZ Leuven)
11:55 → 12:15
Open Q&A - Challenge the vision
Time to ask your toughest questions, share ideas, and hold the panel accountable. Your voice helps shape the final takeaways.
Track 2: Nuclear medicine
Pop Art
Sponsored by
10:45 → 10:55
Strategic Snapshot: Wallonia’s nuclear medicine strengths in the Belgian context
This session presents a clear overview of Belgium’s nuclear medicine ecosystem, with a focus on Wallonia’s unique assets. Based on a strategic diagnostic and stakeholder inputs, it highlights the main strengths as well as gaps and challenges. The goal: share concrete recommendations to consolidate the ecosystem, scale what works and guide future action.
→ Speaker: David Honba (BioWin)
10:55 → 11:10
Testimonial - When patient experience meets innovation in nuclear medicine
A patient and a nuclear medicine specialist share a complementary perspective on prostate cancer - from daily life with the disease to its clinical management. Their joint testimonial underscores how lived experience and research-driven care must work hand in hand to drive meaningful progress in cancer diagnosis and treatment.
→ Speakers: Eric Briers (European Cancer Patient Coalition), Nadia Withofs (CHU of Liege)
11:10 → 11:55
Interactive panel – Nuclear medicine in action: Innovation through collaboration
Belgium’s nuclear medicine value chain is a global standout from isotope production to clinical application. In this interactive panel, leaders from industry, clinics, and research institutions unpack how integrated R&D partnerships fuel innovation, accelerate patient access, and build ecosystem resilience.
Grounded in real-world success stories the discussion will explore how to consolidate the full value chain, stay globally competitive, and identify the strategic levers to activate: from scale-up infrastructure and targeted investment to talent development, regulation, and smarter coordination across actors.
→ Speakers: Representative from Telix (TBC), Representative from Trasis (TBC), Jean Bonnet (IRE), François Moonen (Elysia), Nadia Withofs (CHU Liège)
11:55 → 12:15
Open Q&A – Beyond the talk
React. Question. Challenge. What still needs to happen for Belgium to stay ahead?
TBC
12:15 → 13:15
Networking lunch
Afternoon breakout sessions (parallel tracks)
Surréaliste
Track 3: Health-tech
Sponsored by
13:30 → 13:55
Setting the scene - Diagnostics in the digital health era: devices, data and integration
This introductory session offers a wide-angle view on the evolution of diagnostics within e-health, from medical devices to IVDs, highlighting how digital platforms, connected care and transversal technologies like AI are reshaping how diagnostics are developed, deployed, and integrated into patient pathways. We intend to examine how patient care strategies evolve with in vitro diagnostics, comparing AI-integrated approaches to traditional ones, and how both support more personalized, effective decision-making.
→ Speaker TBC
13:55 → 14:35
Interactive panel – Diagnostics at a crossroads: From bench to market access
From regulatory friction to adoption hurdles, diagnostic innovators face steep barriers in Europe. This panel unpacks real-world experiences in launching, scaling, and financing diagnostics across IVDs, medical devices, and digital health, while comparing EU and U.S. regulatory and market-entry dynamics.
→ Speakers: Julien Penders (Bloomlife), Antoine Pouppez (neuroClues)
14:35 → 14:50
Open Q&A – Beyond the talk
It’s your turn. Challenge the panel, question the blockers, and share what it will really take to accelerate diagnostic innovation in Europe.
Track 4: Finance
Pop Art
Sponsored by
13:30 → 13:40
EIC Accelerator programme: framework, eligibility and opportunities
This session offers a practical introduction to the EIC Accelerator programme, covering eligibility, funding mechanisms, and how innovators in biotech and medtech can access support to scale breakthrough solutions.
→ Speakers TBC
13:40 → 14:30
Interractive Panel - funding health innovation: Two startups journeys, two investor perspectives
Two health startups share their real-world journeys through grants, public programs, and private capital. Alongside them, two leading pan-European investors offer insights into what drives funding decisions today. This interactive panel provides a practical lens on how to finance innovation in Europe’s biotech, medtech, and digital health sectors - and what it takes for founders to stand out in a value-driven market
→ Speakers TBC
14:30 → 14:50
Open Q&A - Challenge
Time to ask your toughest questions, share ideas, and hold the panel accountable. Your voice helps shape the final takeaways.
Satellite session
Vaccine Trial Network
TBC
Sponsored by
13:30 → 14:00
Keynote - Advancing public health by unlocking Wallonia’s potential in prophylactic vaccine trials
This presentation will highlight the findings of a feasibility study exploring how Belgium, long recognised for its excellence in clinical trials, can reclaim its leadership in vaccine research in response to shifting global dynamics and new EU regulations. The study outlines a two-phase plan to create a national network for prophylactic vaccine trials, beginning with capacity building in Wallonia. This coordinated effort aims to drive job growth, enhance public health preparedness and restore Belgium’s global standing in vaccine research.
→ Speaker TBC
14:00 → 14:15
Open Q&A – Operationalising Belgium’s vaccine trial ambitions
Time to ask your toughest questions and share ideas. Your voice helps shape the final takeaways.
Impressionniste
14:45 → 15:00
Coffee break
Afternoon plenary
Impressionniste
15:00 → 15:45
Keynote - The purpose of innovation
The session explores how innovation, when rooted in purpose, can address societal challenges and generate sustainable value.
→ Speaker: Laurent Hublet
15:45 → 16:15
Europe’s innovation momentum: A strategic outlook for health and competitiveness
European and Belgian authorities will share their vision and ambition for boosting innovation in health and biotech.
→ Speaker TBC
16:15 → 16:30
Closing keynote - Looking ahead, together
A forward-looking message, wrap-ups of the day.
→ Speaker: David Honba (BioWin)
TBC
16:30 → 18:00