“Across Flanders, the same technologies that power human medicine can also empower animal, plant and environmental health,” says Katrien Lorré, Biovia’s Domain Lead for medical biotech. “Our job is to connect those dots, break down the walls of the silos and help our members scale their solutions for faster, broader impact.”
Why One Health matters
At its core, One Health is the simple yet profound idea that human, animal, plant and planetary health are inseparable. It is the EU’s framework for tackling problems that cross species and sectors, from antimicrobial resistance (AMR) to zoonotic diseases and environmental pollution.
“One Health is not a slogan,” Lorré adds. “It’s Europe’s way of working smarter on shared challenges that no single sector can solve alone.”
“One Health is not a slogan. It’s Europe’s way of working smarter on shared challenges that no single sector can solve alone.”
The case for One Health is both immediate and long term. AMR demands coordinated action across hospitals, farms and wastewater. Climate change and shifts in land-use are reshaping disease patterns, food security and exposure to pollutants.
“When data, diagnostics and decision-making are connected, we detect threats earlier and respond faster,” Lorré notes. “Efficient intervention and prevention become the default.”
Crossover health solutions turn that principle into practice. Diagnostics built for clinics can be adapted for veterinary and environmental monitoring. AI models trained on human data can flag patterns in animal health or agrifood systems. Biobased processes cut fossil inputs while valorizing agricultural side streams.
“Healthy soils grow healthy crops that feed healthy animals and people—it’s a continuum,” says Lorré. “Biotech is a powerful tool in that toolbox, alongside medtech and digital health.”
One Health in Flanders
In Flanders, the intersection of these different sectors has already been happening for some time. In these fertile fields, nanobody know-how underpins human therapeutics as well as animal and crop applications through companies like Ablynx, Confo Therapeutics, Animab and Biotalys.
Meanwhile, Swift Pharma is transforming plants into mini bioreactors to create therapies for people and using the same technology to create cancer vaccines for pets together with Benno Therapeutics. “These companies have created platforms that pivot seamlessly from creating solutions for the clinic, to the farm and field,” Lorré says.
“These companies have created platforms that pivot seamlessly from creating solutions for the clinic, to the farm and field.”
Biovia was created to channel that momentum into a more broad-reaching reality. “Formed by the merger of flanders.bio and MEDVIA, we’re the first One Health innovation cluster in Europe,” Lorré says. “But the push was bottom-up. Our members were already collaborating across boundaries. We’re simply accelerating and expanding upon the movement they started in a strategic, unified way.”
That member-driven energy shapes how Biovia operates: prioritizing cross-domain projects, building R&D consortia and aligning the ecosystem so collaboration becomes the easiest path.
How One Health benefits Biovia members
Biovia turns One Health into member value by helping people find the partners, funding and information they need, and by representing the ecosystem through one powerful voice.
Flagship events like Knowledge for Growth and Science for Health bring founders, researchers, clinicians, agrifood leaders and investors into the same room where crossover partnerships start. “An agtech startup might leave with a diagnostics partner for field sensors or a digital-health ally to build data pipelines that serve both veterinary and human settings,” explains Lorré. “Those collisions are by design.”
Once the right partners are at the table, Biovia provides access to earmarked, non-dilutive R&D funding, made available by VLAIO for cross-domain health innovation projects. The organization also runs educational programs on topics like regulations and internationalization, to help members scale their solutions and enter markets faster.
“Mixing medtech, digital health and biotech isn’t just smart science,” Lorré says. “It strengthens your case for regional support and de-risks translation.”
“Mixing medtech, digital health and biotech isn’t just smart science. It strengthens your case for regional support and de-risks translation.”
Biovia also represents the Flemish ecosystem at the European level, making sure that member concerns are heard by the right decision makers. A recent example is the forthcoming EU Biotech Act: Biovia gathered input across all five domains as input for the European Commission.
“Our members were clear on their priorities,” Lorré says. “Europe needs to work together to boost, finance and simplify biotech innovation for entrepreneurs through infrastructure and talent, early and translational funding, and by cutting complexity that slows us down.”
Connecting Flemish companies with the world
Biovia’s mission is to help companies bridge the gap between research and market. By fostering a better environment for health innovation in Flanders—where ideas, talent and capital move fluidly across domains—Biovia is connecting members with each other and with partners across Europe and beyond. That means easier access to collaborators, clinical and field testbeds, manufacturing capacity and international markets—the conditions innovation needs to thrive.
Read this article to learn more about Biovia: the new health innovation cluster for human and planetary health!
“We see Biovia as a catalyst and connector,” Lorré says. “Whether you’re a startup or scale-up, we help you find the partners and pathways that turn science into solutions. Through cross-pollination we get a more vibrant, diverse ecosystem all around.”
