CESPE is the Center of Excellence in Sustainable Pharmaceutical Engineering & Manufacturing at Ghent University. The CESPE Innovation Accelerator will provide world-class research infrastructure in the field of (bio)pharmaceutical production innovation. That is necessary to maintain the leading position of Flanders in the field of research to anchor drug development and also its production in our secure region. Research shows that a lack of innovation is at the root of a sharp drop in industry productivity gains since more than five year. There are good reasons for that. (Bio)pharmaceutical companies and their suppliers must adapt to a very fast-changing environment portfolio of new, innovative medicines in the context of preventive and personalized medicine. In addition, with the Covid-19 pandemic, the need for very agile and sustainable production technologies. Companies, academics and governments are strongly committed to innovation, always more complex drugs. Research on innovation in production technology lags behind, however. However, our region has all the ingredients for both development and to be and remain world top in terms of production: one of the strongest (bio)pharmaceutical sectors in Europe, machine builders and system integrators, and a growing number of players in big data and artificial intelligence, etc. The sector is working hard on a digital 'Pharma 4.0' transition, but there is strong competition from neighboring regions in the field of major infrastructure (Ireland, Austria, England).

Due to strict regulatory and safety requirements, the production of medicines in a conditioned, dust-free and safe environment (clean room). By developing a drug at an early stage to the development of the production process and technology shortens lead time and creates a competitive advantage. Within this R&D setting is the availability of cleanroom infrastructure that can be used by both UGent and companies, absolutely necessary. With a flexible, 'plug & play' open R&D and innovation accelerator and test facility with incubation room for (bio)pharmaceuticals technology companies, the CESPE Innovation Accelerator responds to this need. It will form a research and pilot environment with specific cleanrooms, lab space, offices and incubation space of a total of 3300m² with a cost of 18.2M€. The realization of this infrastructure will, thanks to the Flemish recovery plan Resilience, in collaboration with relevant industrial actors and knowledge institutions to conduct excellent scientific research continue to perform, thereby increasing the productivity of the sector bring Flanders to the top level and make it even more attractive create an investment climate. For example, during the exploitation phase, 15 flagship research and development projects (3M€+) pursued. At least 25 multi-partner project applications with at least 3 members of the CESPE innovation cluster will be drawn up. 10 start-up/spin-off activities focused on innovative technology for (bio)pharmaceutical production are intended. 5 starters and 1, max 2 scale-ups can be accommodated in the (bio)pharmtech incubator. We also look at talent. In addition to the existing Bachelor's and Master's Degrees will be a new Master in Pharmaceutical Engineering rolled out (absent in Flanders/Belgium). From academic year 2022-2023 a minimum successful drop-off of 50 students per year is expected. The infrastructure will provide a strong substantive interpretation for this purpose, as well as hands-on training regarding pharmaceuticals engineering techniques. Over a period of 15 years, the CESPE Innovation Accelerator 3200 will be direct and create indirect jobs, it will through more efficient process management reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 180 kt CO2 eq, and contribute to the delivering GDP of 500M€. Finally, in addition to these quantitative objectives, it is important that fundamental and applied research and innovation in (bio)pharmaceutical production technology will lead to faster and bringing (new) medicines to the patient more efficiently. Through technological research can prepare our region for the flexible producing critical medicines and responding quickly to, for example, a pandemic situations.

In this way, the project contributes to a resilient Flanders and is in line with the objectives of the Flemish recovery plan: a caring, sustainable and digital Flanders, with a productivity offensive via targeted investments in infrastructure and human capital.