Health and medicine ecosystem in Ghent - The UGent health technology platforms

Ghent is a thriving hub of the health ecosystem in Flanders and far beyond. Ghent University is building a diverse interdisciplinary network to leverage health research development and accelerate high potential innovations to the market, thus effectively delivering results to patients. Through four complementary health technology platforms funded by the IOF, UGent is putting Ghent's top-notch health expertise to the forefront to innovate together with industry. Each platform has a dedicated manager serving as single contact point for external organisations in their respective domains. The Cancer Research Institute Ghent (CRIG) platform facilitates valorisation projects of CRIG, a virtual network of over 400 cancer researchers of U(Z)Gent/VIB. The platform brings together multidisciplinary expertise (diagnostics data analytics, therapeutics, chemistry, protein sciences, Medtech, microfluidics) and facilitates valorisation projects and collaborations with industrial partners within the scope of personalized medicine, AI, digital health and Medtech within oncology. The Cross-Health platform aims to circulate technology/expertise from human medicine towards the veterinary field and vice versa. The following disciplines collaborate within the Cross-Health platform to develop applications benefitting human and/or animal health: veterinary and human medicine (small molecules, cell therapy, biocompatible tissues), plant biotechnology, bio-engineering (sensors, medical devices), big data and AI. GATE (Ghent Advanced Therapies and Tissue Engineering) organizes and promotes cross-disciplinary research activities within UGent and beyond in the fast-emerging field of gene, cell and tissue engineering. The aim is to create high visibility and impact through collaboration, accelerating valorization of innovative technologies for new applications in regenerative medicine, pharmaceutical and diagnostic research. The Centre of Excellence in Sustainable Pharmaceutical Engineering & Manufacturing (CESPE) is a multidisciplinary research and innovation accelerator centre focusing on the development, design and optimisation of drug substance and drug product production platforms. Through integration of expertise ranging from chemical and pharmaceutical sciences to advanced manufacturing technologies, CESPE aims at providing pharma 4.0 production technologies to manufacture the medicines of the future in a sustainable and agile way.