(L-R): Georges Engel, president of ZARE; Francine Closener, Secretary of State for the Economy; Philippe Sollie, Flen Health SA; Georges Mischo, Mayor of Esch-sur-Alzette; Jean-Paul Scheuren, House of Biohealth; n.c. Romain Poulles, PROgroup; Credit: Marco Barberi / House of Biohealth

On Wednesday 31 January 2018, the extension of the House of Biohealth in Esch-sur-Alzette was inaugurated.

Francine Closener, Luxembourg's Secretary of State for the Economy, officially inaugurated the first extension of the House of Biohealth, a reception facility for new and existing companies in the fields of biotechnology, ICT and environmental technology, a collaboration between the Ministry of the Economy, ZARE and private investors.

As part of the efforts of the Ministry of the Economy to develop the economic sector of life sciences, the House of Biohealth is evolving in 3 phases and will eventually accommodate up to 600 researchers, offering them more total 15,000 m2 of laboratory and office space.

Nearly three years after hosting the first companies, the House of Biohealth has doubled its capacity thanks to this first extension (phase 2), thus offering a total of 6,000 m2 of laboratory space and 4,000 m2 of office space. A second extension of the incubator (phase 3) will be launched according to the real needs of the sector.

The House of BioHealth now offers infrastructure rental on an hourly basis, meeting the needs of innovative start-ups. In the coming months, 600 m2 fully equipped laboratories will be added, allowing start-ups to significantly reduce their installation costs.

The Ministry of the Economy supports this project of public-private partnership through the provision of a rental guarantee.

In her speech, Secretary of State Closener emphasised "The interdisciplinarity of biotechnologies, ICT and clean technologies as well as the presence of companies in these 3 sectors on a common site allow significant synergies and generate new opportunities, especially at the intersection of biomedical research and big data. Another particularity of the House of Biohealth is the mix of public research activities and commercial activities, as well as between start-ups and established companies".