Header Image: Christof Klöpper, Anette Steenberg, Ann Van Gysel, and James Rose; panelists at the Medicon Valley Alliance Summit.
The “Champions League” idea originates with four clusters representing Europe’s leading life sciences hubs — Flanders (Belgium), Medicon Valley (Denmark-Sweden), Golden Triangle (the UK), and BioValley (France-Germany-Switzerland). It builds on the stark message of last year’s Draghi report: Europe has excellent science, but fails to implement and scale innovations. By aligning strengths and strategies, these clusters aim to make it possible for companies to stay in Europe, rather than looking to the US or China for the resources they need to grow.
Ann Van Gysel from Biovia, the health innovation cluster for Flanders, said: “The future of innovation will not be decided by who works fastest alone, but by who works smartest together. When we align our strengths, we can build the critical mass that European innovators need to scale their solutions, to the benefit of both the economy and European patients.”
A Fragmented Europe: Strong Hubs, Weak Implementation
Europe’s leading life science regions are indisputably world-class hubs for research and talent. Yet as the Draghi report underlined, the EU still behaves like 27 separate markets, each with its own regulations and reimbursement systems. It is difficult to design efficient multi-country clinical trials, and the investor landscape is dispersed, complicating efforts to fund the development of promising technologies. Combined, this fragmentation leads to painful hurdles for companies trying to turn ideas into concrete products.
“Europe doesn’t lack innovation, it lacks implementation,” said Van Gysel. “We have a strong foundation — all of the basic ingredients for innovation — but we need to make it easier for companies to develop, validate and scale their solutions in Europe.”
“Europe doesn’t lack innovation, it lacks implementation.” – Ann Van Gysel, Biovia
From the Medicon Valley Alliance, Anette Steenberg put it bluntly: “Europe will never succeed as an archipelago of isolated islands. We need bridges: connected hubs that keep their own identity but act in unity when it comes to markets, companies and investors. That’s how we will turn scientific excellence into true impact.”
Medicon Valley itself shows what is possible when bridges are built — in this case literally, with the Alliance representing one of Europe’s densest life sciences ecosystems connected by the Øresund bridge between Copenhagen and southern Sweden. Other regions with similar concentrations of excellence are Flanders in Belgium, the Golden Triangle in the UK, and the BioValley bordering France, Germany and Switzerland.
Until now, the clusters representing these regions have mostly acted in parallel, not as one coordinated European team. But now, they are hoping to change that, by working together to establish a Champions League.
Four leading European life sciences clusters, at a glance:
Biovia (Flanders, Belgium): Europe’s first industry-led One Health cluster, connecting 400+ member organizations across medical biotech, medtech, digital health, agtech and industrial biotech in a single ecosystem focused on human and planetary health.
Medicon Valley Alliance (Øresund region, Denmark-Sweden): A bi-national life science cluster in eastern Denmark and southern Sweden, bringing together 580+ member companies, universities and hospitals, recognized as one of Europe’s strongest clusters for clinical research and biopharma development.
Basel Area life sciences cluster (BioValley region, France-Germany-Switzerland): A cluster in the heart of the BioValley region bordering France, Germany and Switzerland, with 800+ companies active in biotechnology, pharmaceuticals and medical technology, anchored by a high concentration of global pharma headquarters and research sites.
Health Innovation Oxford and Thames Valley (Golden Triangle, the UK): A hub in the Golden Triangle region linking London, Oxford and Cambridge, with 640+ members including life science and healthcare companies alongside world-class universities and research hospitals.
The Champions League Vision: One Team, Healthy Competition
These clusters don’t intend for this Champions League to be a top-down institution. Instead, they want a focused alliance between leading life sciences clusters, built around a shared ambition: connect their strengths and networks to build critical mass and create meaningful change.
For Van Gysel, this collaboration is a tool, not a slogan. “Collaboration for its own sake does not help a startup,” she explained. “What matters is whether we make it easier to find partners, enter new markets and raise capital. That is where clusters can really change the game by working together.”
The key is to be explicit about where clusters compete and where they work together. Because different regions have different strengths.” – James Rose, Health Innovation Oxford and Thames Valley
A central theme of the panel at the MVA Summit was how to balance collaboration with competition. James Rose from Health Innovation Oxford and Thames Valley stressed that competition between regions is not a problem to be solved, but an asset to be harnessed. “The key,” he argued, “is to be explicit about where clusters compete and where they work together. Because different regions have different strengths.”
Christof Klöpper from the Basel Area life science cluster echoed that point. “I actually like competition,” he said. “It forces us to keep learning and to improve the way we support our companies. But when we talk about critical mass — when we want to show investors a rich European pipeline or give companies a clear path to market — we are undeniably stronger together.”
“When we want to show investors a rich European pipeline or give companies a clear path to market — we are undeniably stronger together.” – Christof Klöpper, Basel Area life science cluster
“We need to remember why we’re doing this,” Steenberg added. “It’s for the patients. We need competition, because we need the best solutions to succeed. Excellence breeds excellence, and we should consider a win for our neighbor as a win for ourselves too.”
In practice, the clusters intend for the Champions League to focus on a few concrete mechanisms, such as the creation of thematic consortia that bring together companies from different European countries — for example on the topic of women’s health. Today, many of these ventures are scattered and struggle to gain visibility at the global level. By grouping them through cross-border programs and international delegations at events, a team of clusters can generate a pool of Europe’s stars that will draw the attention of international investors and partners.
Tackling Complex Challenges as One
In addition to practical ideas, the clusters also discussed how to tackle complex challenges that no single region can fix alone. The top priorities for the panelists were fragmented clinical trials, limited funding opportunities, and complex regulatory pathways.
Current clinical trials are increasingly being conducted in Asia or Australia, rather than in Europe. To solve this, Van Gysel suggested: “We need more coherent approaches to multi-country clinical trials, and specific funding for validation of new innovations in our own healthcare systems. Otherwise, we risk exporting our best ideas before European patients ever see the benefits of the research we’ve supported.”
Klöpper emphasized the role of finance. “Europe still has funding gaps at both the early and scale-up stages, making it hard for companies to mature locally,” he stated. By coordinating between clusters, he sees an opportunity to present a larger, more compelling pipeline of European opportunities to investors — a pipeline which needs to be backed by ready access to markets and clinical partners.
“If clusters can show policymakers where regulatory friction is slowing down promising innovations… then they can help make Europe’s health systems more agile and attractive for innovators.” – Anette Steenberg, Medicon Valley Alliance
Steenberg underlined the importance of speaking with a joint voice on regulations and reimbursement. “If clusters can show policymakers where regulatory friction is slowing down promising innovations — and point to concrete cross-border success stories — then they can help make Europe’s health systems more agile and attractive for innovators,” she said.
Van Gysel emphasized the importance of amplifying the same message: “As clusters, we represent Europe’s most important health companies. Our voices carry more weight when we speak as one, making sure that the European Commission clearly hears the shared needs and priorities of our members.”
From Academic Excellence to Industry Impact
The Champions League of clusters could become a practical engine for turning fragmented European excellence into a single, stronger unit. More investment, smoother clinical collaboration, and clearer pathways into healthcare would translate into more innovations reaching patients — and more high-value companies generating jobs, fresh talent and economic growth in Europe.
Crucially, this is only the beginning. The Champions League is still in development, and the four panel participants are currently looking to connect with other European clusters for informal discussions on the next steps. The formal conversation will continue at Knowledge for Growth in Belgium on 3&4 June 2026, hosted by Biovia, where members of the Champions League will refine their shared agenda and launch concrete joint actions.
“Collaboration knows no borders, only shared goals.” – Ann Van Gysel, Biovia
For Van Gysel, the path forward is clear. “Collaboration knows no borders, only shared goals,” she said. “If we start with focused, bottom-up initiatives, learn fast and scale what works, then we can move from being frontrunners in science to true leaders in impact — and make ‘Choose Europe’ a real option for innovators and investors.”
