One of the greatest challenges facing Europe’s biomanufacturing sector today is not a lack of talent, ideas or potential. It is fragmentation.
Knowledge remains dispersed across regions. Skills shortages persist despite growing demand. Promising companies often struggle to navigate complex regulatory environments or secure the resources needed to scale. Meanwhile, opportunities for collaboration across regional ecosystems frequently remain untapped.
The BRIDGE project was created to address precisely this challenge. By strengthening cooperation between regional innovation ecosystems and unlocking their complementary strengths, BRIDGE aims to accelerate the development of a more connected, resilient and competitive European biomanufacturing landscape.
At the heart of this ambition lies a new collaborative mechanism: the Interregional Biomanufacturing Interest Groups (IBIGs).
From discussion to action
IBIGs are more than thematic working groups. They are designed as dynamic communities of practice that bring together stakeholders from across Europe’s biomanufacturing value chain.
Supported by the EIT Health Community Platform , the groups will convene representatives from academia, industry, start-ups, SMEs, healthcare organisations, innovation agencies, investors and policymakers from the BRIDGE partner regions and beyond. International experts will also contribute perspectives from other European ecosystems, ensuring that discussions are informed by both local realities and broader market trends.
Their mission is simple but ambitious: identify common challenges, exchange knowledge, develop practical solutions and transform dialogue into concrete interregional collaboration.
For Upper Silesian Accelerator for Commercial Enterprises, the organisation leading the IBIG activities within BRIDGE, the ultimate objective is to ensure that collaboration translates into measurable outcomes.
“The Interregional Biomanufacturing Interest Groups are designed to move collaboration from aspiration to action,” explains a representative of Upper Silesian Accelerator for Commercial Enterprises. “Across Europe, many regions face similar challenges but often tackle them independently. BRIDGE project creates a structured space where stakeholders can exchange experience, identify common priorities and jointly develop initiatives that deliver tangible value for their ecosystems. Our goal is to build lasting partnerships that continue creating impact well beyond the lifetime of the BRIDGE project.”
By creating a structured environment for continuous exchange, IBIGs will enable stakeholders to move beyond isolated regional conversations and start building shared strategies for Europe’s biomanufacturing future.
Why Europe needs collaborative ecosystems
Biomanufacturing is becoming increasingly important for Europe’s economic competitiveness, healthcare resilience and strategic autonomy. However, the sector faces several interconnected challenges.
Access to investment remains uneven across regions. Regulatory complexity can slow innovation. Many ecosystems report similar shortages of specialised talent. Sustainability requirements are evolving rapidly. At the same time, diverse groups remain underrepresented across innovation ecosystems, limiting both participation and growth.
These challenges are rarely unique to a single region.
Through comprehensive ecosystem mapping, BRIDGE has identified strengths, value chains, capability gaps and opportunities across participating regions. The findings reveal that many ecosystems face similar obstacles while possessing complementary expertise that could help address them. IBIGs provide the mechanism through which these insights can be translated into collective action. Rather than reinventing solutions independently, regions can learn from one another, co-develop initiatives and jointly explore opportunities that would be difficult to achieve alone.
Themes shaping the future of biomanufacturing
The initial discussions within IBIGs were focused on several strategic areas that emerged during the preparatory phase of the BRIDGE project. Together, these themes reflect a broader understanding of innovation.
Success in biomanufacturing is no longer determined solely by scientific excellence. It increasingly depends on access to skills, funding, collaboration networks, inclusive participation and sustainable operating models.
By bringing stakeholders together around these shared priorities, IBIGs aim to generate recommendations that are both practical and scalable.
Creating a pipeline for future collaboration
Perhaps the most significant aspect of the IBIG model is its focus on long-term impact.
IBIGs members will develop a portfolio of joint actions designed to strengthen cooperation over the next three years and beyond. These actions may include collaborative projects, new training initiatives, investment opportunities, policy recommendations or innovation support mechanisms.
Importantly, the outputs generated through IBIG discussions will not remain theoretical. Promising ideas will be monitored and further developed through BRIDGE activities, feeding into a long list of interregional collaboration opportunities. The most mature initiatives will receive dedicated support for concept development and future funding applications, creating a pathway from conversation to implementation.
In this sense, IBIGs act as both an innovation laboratory and a launchpad for future funding -ready initiatives.
The success of such collaboration will depend not only on the quality of ideas generated, but also on creating spaces where dialogue can flourish.
At a time when Europe is seeking to strengthen its competitiveness in strategic technologies, the ability to connect regional strengths may prove just as important as individual scientific breakthroughs. Through IBIGs, BRIDGE is creating the conditions for that collaboration to happen – transforming fragmented expertise into a shared European capability for biomanufacturing innovation.