France is serious about biotech. Four years ago, the government launched the Healthcare Innovation 2030 plan, to invest €7.5bn into next-generation technologies in health, as part of the France 2030 initiative to bolster sovereignty in strategic sectors.
While Paris and Lyon might dominate the headlines when it comes to the country’s life sciences industry, another region in the east is fast becoming a major contributor to delivering on France’s biotech ambitions.
“The biotherapy sector in Bourgogne-Franche-Comté has undergone significant transformation in recent years, positioning the region as a key player in France and Europe,” says Jeanne Galaine, director of the biology, therapy, diagnostic department at EFS BFC, a research institution focused on blood-based therapeutics.
As the biotech industry in Bourgogne-Franche-Comté continues to grow, the region is getting more organised. This year saw the launch of BIOVALIANCE, an initiative to strengthen innovation in the sector, bringing together research institutions, universities, hospitals, policymakers, industrial partners and startups.
By encouraging different players to collaborate and making their work more visible, the strategy is helping to establish Bourgogne-Franche-Comté as one of France’s strongest forces in building a thriving, homegrown biotech sector.
Historic strength
BIOVALIANCE was created to support innovation in a region that has been building a reputation for research and industrial excellence for decades.
Historically a hub for microtechnology industries and cutting-edge laboratories, we boast R&D projects and industrial solutions unmatched in France.
Bourgogne-Franche-Comté is home to one of France’s most significant branches of the CNRS (National Centre for Scientific Research), and more than 400 companies working in precision micro-electronics.
“Historically a hub for microtechnology industries and cutting-edge laboratories, we boast R&D projects and industrial solutions unmatched in France,” says Jérôme Durain, president of the Bourgogne–Franche-Comté Region.
The long focus on microengineering and manufacturing has cultivated fertile ground for the biotech industry, which similarly requires extreme precision, stringent quality control and process optimisation. That, combined with a strong life sciences research community, has created more than 250 biotech and medtech companies in the region, and some world-leading innovations.
One example is the Genesis project, a public-private partnership led by Bourgogne–Franche-Comté-based pharmaceutical manufacturer Urgo, which has developed a unique artificial skin to help patients with serious wounds. Another is CellQuest, which has built technology to industrialise and scale up cell therapy manufacturing to make treatments more accessible and affordable to patients.
Working together
BIOVALIANCE is also harnessing previous efforts to support the biotech sector in the region, like the BioImp research consortium that launched in 2024 with €800m in EU funding. The project connects companies like CellQuest with research and industrial partners to help improve biotherapy production processes and drive down the costs of treatments.
One of the keys to unlocking Bourgogne–Franche-Comté’s potential in biotech, according to EFS BFC’s Galaine, is to get different stakeholders like these, across research, hospitals, startups, industry and government, working together.
The aim is to make better use of technical sciences to bring disruptive technologies to production processes.
“Collaboration fosters cross-disciplinary innovation and leverages the region’s scientific and industrial expertise,” she says. “The aim is to make better use of technical sciences to bring disruptive technologies to production processes.”
As well as fostering this intra-regional networking, BIOVALIANCE is also promoting the international profile of Bourgogne–Franche-Comté’s biotech sector.
“BIOVALIANCE unites regional players in biotherapies and bioproduction, and makes them even more visible,” says Durain. “It does this through joint actions, such as participation in trade fairs, promotion of know-how, organisation of joint delegations to European institutions or partnerships with health clusters in North America.”
This effort to strengthen the region’s brand will be important to take its biotech sector to the next stage, says Galaine: “This visibility is crucial for attracting further investment, partnerships and talent.”
Sovereign health
What BIOVALIANCE is doing for biotech in Bourgogne–Franche-Comté is part of a broader push laid out in the France 2030 plan, to reduce reliance on other nations’ for healthcare provision.
Beyond the financial resources, our ability to achieve the ambitious objectives of France 2030 will depend on our ability to create synergies between academic stakeholders, health institutions, industry and startups.
“France 2030 aims to make France the leading European nation for innovation and sovereignty in healthcare. We are devoting significant resources to this,” Roland Lescure, minister for the economy, finance and industrial and energy, wrote in the project’s roadmap.
“Beyond the financial resources, our ability to achieve the ambitious objectives of France 2030 will depend on our ability to create synergies between academic stakeholders, health institutions, industry and startups.”
Durain says BIOVALIANCE contributes to this by supporting the processes required to design and produce innovative new therapies.
“Developing skills and expertise in the regions, in close collaboration with other French regions, should equip France with the necessary players to regain its leading position in Europe,” he says.
Bourgogne–Franche-Comté has quietly become a world-leading hub for research and industrial capabilities in biotech. If Biovaliance succeeds in fostering collaboration across the industry, while promoting the region’s profile, it won’t remain quiet on the world stage for much longer.
