About 30 years ago, Rudi Mariën founded the very first biotech company in Flanders and Belgium: Innogenetics. Over the last few decades, he has invested greatly in initiatives specializing in drug development. Small wonder he developed into ‘the patron of medical biotechnology’. He still lives up to this name: in collaboration with his son and real estate expert Stefan Mariën, his company Biovest co-funded Bioscape, a bio-incubator located near the Technology Park in Ghent, Flanders.

Bioscape consists of four office and laboratory buildings, covering a surface area of 16,000 m². The bio-incubator targets scale-ups in particular, since they are usually growing fast and need sufficient well-equipped space. Four companies have already moved in: Argenx, ActoBio Therapeutics, MyCartis and Eurofins Amatsi. However, there is room left for about 10 biotech companies.