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Agrofood

Agrofood, Environment/sustainability, Food technology, Microbial systems and fermentation, Plant science

Bacteria as Plant Fertilizers: How Soil Microbes Can Help Plants Grow During Drought

Farmers rely heavily on chemical fertilizers to boost crop yields, but this approach comes at a cost to soil quality, biodiversity, and plant fertility. Soil microbes may provide greener alternatives to help plants grow better under tough conditions like drought by triggering faster growth and earlier flowering. The intended result? Improved crop yields when water is scarce.

Stop Being a Pest About It: How AI Can Help Agriculture

Insect pests are a major cause of quality and economic losses in agriculture. Due to policy constraints that aim for a greener future, the use of general pesticides is being phased out, and a push towards species-specific pesticides and biological control methods is being promoted. But these methods require the pest species to first be identified, which is costly. AI could help speed up this process, thus reducing costs and helping us push towards a greener tomorrow.

R&D Real Estate: A Cornerstone of European Innovation

The most visible — yet often overlooked — parts of an innovative ecosystem are the buildings that house research and development activities. Far more than just office space, these physical foundations facilitate the translation of lofty ideas into tangible solutions for society. Kadans Science Partner is one of Europe’s foremost providers of this specialized infrastructure, with a unique community-minded model.

Co-Creation in Agrifood and Bio-Based Innovation: Accelerating Trust and Impact

As a sector, agrifood biotech has enormous potential to improve the sustainability, resilience, and productivity of our food systems. Yet many promising innovations still fail to reach the market, often because they are not sufficiently aligned with real-world needs or adoption barriers. The B-Trust project aims to involve end-users from the start, to help make agrifood R&D more relevant, equitable, and impactful.

To PhD or Not to PhD: A Growing Question in the Life Sciences

An increasing number of PhD students are concerned about their career prospects. Currently, only around 5-10% of PhD graduates remain in academia — the vast majority have to navigate an unfamiliar job market, where industry demand for their highly educated profiles appears to be in decline. Is a PhD still the best route to professional success? And what can students do to prepare themselves?

European Biotech Act: New initiative to mobilize €10 billion investment for Europe’s biotech sector

The European Commission and the European Investment Bank (EIB) Group have announced an initiative to mobilize €10 billion in investment in 2026-27 into the biotech and life sciences sector. The project aims to give a significant boost to the EU's competitiveness in biotechnology, by addressing the EU's current investment gap and mobilizing public-private investment into promising new health solutions.

A Champions League of European Health Innovation Clusters

Recently at the Medicon Valley Alliance Summit in Copenhagen, the spotlight was on European competitiveness. In a keynote, panelists from four of Europe’s leading life sciences hubs shared their intention to establish a “Champions League” of clusters, working as a team to strengthen health innovation for Europe as a whole.

ATB Therapeutics: Antibody Seeker Missiles for Cancer and Autoimmune Diseases

Antibodies have long held promise as a ‘magic bullet’ for cancer therapies, yet many antibody-drug conjugates face issues with toxicity and resistance. Belgian startup ATB Therapeutics is producing a new type of weaponized antibodies, using plants as mini factories for safe, effective cancer and autoimmune treatments.

Science for Health 2025: How to anchor innovation in Belgium?

Belgium puts a lot of resources into research and innovation, supporting the creation of spinouts and startups with brilliant potential health solutions. But as they grow, most of those companies eventually hit a point where local support isn’t enough—they have to look beyond Europe for their manufacturing, clinical trials, and funding needs. How can Belgium close this gap so companies can stay and thrive in Europe?

The benefits of One Health in Flanders

Biovia is Europe’s first industry-led One Health innovation cluster—uniting medical biotech, medtech, digital health, agtech and industrial biotech to advance human and planetary health. Katrien Lorré explains how this unified approach benefits companies by unlocking opportunities and fostering a better environment for health innovation.

Biovia: the new health innovation cluster for human and planetary health

A fresh chapter in Flemish healthtech and life sciences has begun with the launch of Biovia: the health innovation cluster resulting from the merger of flanders.bio and MEDVIA. Unveiled at Knowledge for Growth, the flagship annual conference of the Flemish life sciences sector, this new industry-driven organization brings more than 450 members together in one unified ecosystem – cultivating connections and forging a path to a healthier future for people and planet.

Aiming for Europe, but starting with the world – how restrictive EU legislation drives biotech innovation in agrifood abroad

Meeting the needs of a growing global population while addressing the clear demand for a more sustainable food supply is challenging but not impossible. Innovative biotechnological tools are constantly being created, and they are increasingly available on the market. However, the industry is in desperate need of support, as EU legislation can act as more of a hurdle than a facilitator, hindering local advancement. flanders.bio is committed to advocating for the sector and highlights the most pressing challenges in their latest policy paper.

What a year…looking back at Benelux biotech in 2024 

As 2025 comes peeking around the corner, we invite you to look back with us at some of the most exciting science topics we covered this year. From advances in women’s health, organoids, and organ-on-a-chip models to the challenges of data science and innovations in animal science and sustainable biotech; let us walk you through the Benelux life sciences landscape of 2024 as we reflect on the vast amount of knowledge and know-how characteristic to this region.

The rise and recalibration of sustainable agrifood investments: lessons for us all

There has been an unprecedented surge of investments in sustainable agriculture and food technologies in the last decade, but that trend now appears to have reversed into a free fall in funding. This pattern of promise-to-disillusionment perfectly matches the hype cycle previously demonstrated by breakthrough technologies in other sectors. Can we forge a path forward for sustainable agrifood start-ups?

Belgium’s ‘Positive for the Planet’ evolution through agritech

Our current food system is responsible for around a third of global greenhouse gas emissions, extensive deforestation, unsustainable water usage, and an unprecedented loss of biodiversity. Currently, the processes used to produce our food represent an obstacle to limiting average global temperature increases to the levels set out in the Paris Agreement. But are these damaging effects of our current food production landscape an unavoidable cost of feeding humanity or can smart investments in sustainable agritech be part of the solution?