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Boost your biomanufacturing
with Wallonia’s skilled talent
Highly educated, motivated and strong team players: Wallonia’s workforce is among the most productive in the world. An invaluable asset to harness your biomanufacturing business! Add to that the relatively low cost of living in the region and its booming biotech scene, and you’re ready to leverage a winning combination.
Skilled and productive human capital :
loyal and motivated employees, with almost 75% having a higher education degree
2nd worldwide
in biopharma talent development
22% more researchers
per 1000 employees than the US.
Over 51,000 jobs
(direct & indirect) in Wallonia’s biotech sector
A growing biotech talent pool
Over the past 10 years, Belgium was the only European country to sustain a growth rate of over 10%. Belgium and Wallonia’s solid education system and favorable working conditions result in an astounding number of graduates in life sciences and health disciplines, and a high labor productivity, well ahead of its neigbouring countries, like France, The Netherlands and Germany.
Over 25,000 annual graduates in health studies – medicine, medical diagnostics and treatment, and pharmacy
Over 13,000 annual graduates in engineering, manufacturing and construction studies
1,500 graduates annually in biochemistry, biotechnology bio-engineering and biomedical sciences)
EU biotech campus: a unique European and international flagship
Scheduled to be in operation by 2025, the EU Biotech Campus in Charleroi, will be a 5500 m2 unique multi-operator professional training center and business accelerator. Its mission: boosting the development of talents, skills and businesses in the biotech industry. As a European and international flagship, it’s perfectly placed to further grow the health and biotech valley in Wallonia/Belgium.
The EU Biotech Campus will provide lots of training opportunities in one of Wallonia’s main sectors of the future.
Thomas Dermine, State Secretary for Economic Recovery and Strategic Investments
aptaskil: experienced regional competence center
aptaskil is the Competence Centre for production jobs (manufacturing, quality control laboratory, maintenance, etc.) and was set up in 2003 in Seneffe. The Centre has grown extensively and currently trains 4,500 people per year of which 2/3 are in the biopharmaceutical sector and 1/3 in the chemical sector. Since 2021 an expansion is ongoing to increase aptaskil’s training capacity by more than 25%, allowing to train an additional 1000 job seekers and students on a yearly basis.
I am convinced that this expansion of this competence center for the biomanufacturing sector will contribute to the economic recovery of the region
Willy Borsus, Vice-President of Wallonia and Minister of Competence Centers
Other training centers for biotech professionals
Various other training centers in Wallonia are also dedicated to furthering the region’s biotech and biomanufacturing expertise.
ULB Helsci: the center for continuing education in Health and Life Sciences at Brussels University (ULB). Its multidisciplinary team trains more than 2,000 people every year.
Culture in Vivo: a non-profit association dedicated to organizing scientific events and training, and informing the public about the life sciences’ domain. Culture in Vivo has programs for high school students and the underprivileged, as well as offering practical sessions to biotech students.
Forem - Centre de formation en Biotechnologie: Forem is the public employment and vocational training service in Wallonia. The organization has specific training centers all over the region, including a dedicated biotech facility in Liège.
Attracting talent through sector-specific jobfair
Since 2020, essenscia wallonie organises Jobdays, which aim to attract technical and scientific talents to the sector. More than 1000 candidates participate each year in this event.
Want to get your biomanufacturing activities
off the ground in Wallonia, as fast and smoothly as possible?
