Europe is strengthening its biotechnology capabilities
IPCEI Biotechnologies
Developing an innovative biotechnology solution? IPCEI Biotechnologies may offer an opportunity for your project to progress from R&D to first industrial deployment through European collaboration.
FIND OUT MOREIPCEI Biotechnologies
Europe is strengthening its biotechnology capabilities
Biotechnology is playing an increasingly important role in healthcare, pharmaceutical development, the food industry, sustainable production and the circular economy. New biotechnology solutions not only enable the creation of innovative products, but can also address strategic challenges such as the security of Europe’s pharmaceutical supply, dependence on critical raw materials and reducing the environmental footprint of industrial production.
IPCEI Biotechnologies aims to connect companies, research organisations and innovation stakeholders from several European countries to support the development and industrial deployment of next-generation biotechnology solutions. The framework may be particularly relevant for large-scale R&D&I projects with high technological risk and European significance that would be difficult to implement solely under market conditions.
In this case, too, IPCEI is not a traditional grant programme: the objective is to build a shared, cross-border European biotechnology value chain from interconnected national projects.
What could IPCEI Biotechnologies mean for companies?
The framework may be particularly relevant for companies planning substantial biotechnology innovation rather than the application of an existing technology or a conventional expansion of manufacturing capacity.
A potential IPCEI project may focus on developing a new technological solution, manufacturing process, platform or product. It is also important that the project involves significant scientific or technological uncertainty and that its results extend beyond the direct commercial interests of the individual company.
In biotechnology, the link between research and industry can be particularly valuable. A laboratory result involving a new molecule, biological platform or manufacturing technology may still be far from market application. Scalability, reproducibility, quality assurance and the development of industrial-scale manufacturing often constitute technological challenges in their own right.
What types of developments may be relevant?
Biotechnology is an extremely broad field, so an IPCEI may potentially encompass several interconnected technological directions. These may include, for example:
- Bio-based chemical raw materials and intermediates
- Advanced bio-based materials
- Food, feed and health-industry ingredients
- Technological platforms and manufacturing systems
- First industrial applications and demonstration systems
The precise scope of potential projects will always depend on the technological focus of the relevant European IPCEI initiative and the priorities defined by participating Member States.
Where is the line between a biotechnology investment and an IPCEI project?
Not every biotechnology investment can be considered a potential IPCEI project. For example, expanding manufacturing capacity using a proven technology may be economically significant, but does not necessarily have the level of innovation required for an IPCEI.
| Traditional biotechnology investment | Potential IPCEI project |
| Application of established technology | New or significantly advanced technology |
| Primarily capacity expansion | R&D and technological breakthrough |
| Lower development risk | High scientific and technological risk |
| A company’s own project | Cross-border cooperation |
| Direct corporate benefit | Broader European economic and scientific impact |
The key question is therefore whether the development adds something materially new compared with the current state of the art and can create results from which other stakeholders in the European biotechnology ecosystem can also benefit.
From the laboratory to First Industrial Deployment
One of the greatest challenges in biotechnology is scale-up: the same process that works under laboratory conditions may raise very different technological issues at industrial scale.
For a new biological manufacturing process, for example, it is necessary to ensure process stability, maintain product quality, address purification and process control, and ensure compatibility with industrial equipment. Pharmaceutical applications are also subject to additional stringent quality and regulatory requirements.
A key feature of IPCEIs is therefore that, in addition to research and development, the First Industrial Deployment (FID) stage may also be relevant. This can help bridge the critical period between a successful research result and subsequent market-scale production.
Traditional mass production, however, is no longer at the centre of this support logic.
Built on European cooperation
Cross-border cooperation is a defining element of IPCEI. A company’s project does not enter a European framework in isolation, but in connection with developments in other Member States.
This can be particularly significant in biotechnology. Within a value chain, one research team may develop a new biological platform, another company may establish the required manufacturing technology, while a third stakeholder may provide the analytical or industrial scale-up solution.
Under IPCEI, these interconnected developments can form an integrated European project whose technological and economic impact is greater than that of the individual corporate projects taken separately.
Why are spillover effects important?
An important justification for state aid is that the results of an IPCEI project should not create value exclusively for the direct beneficiary. The project must also generate broader positive effects across Europe, known as spillovers.
For a biotechnology project, examples may include:
- sharing new scientific results;
- involving research institutions and universities;
- creating new industry standards and methodologies;
- making technology platforms more widely accessible;
- involving SMEs and suppliers;
- training professionals and developing new capabilities.
Spillover is therefore not merely a communication commitment. Already at the project planning stage, it is worth defining how the knowledge and technological value created by the project will spread throughout the European ecosystem.
Why may state aid be necessary?
Biotechnology innovation often involves long development periods, high upfront costs and significant risk. A project may require years of R&D expenditure while technological or commercial success remains uncertain.
IPCEI support may therefore be justified where a project has high strategic and innovation value, but the market alone does not provide sufficient financing for implementation.
The funding gap analysis can play a decisive role in demonstrating this. It assesses how the project would be implemented without support and what level of aid is required for the more technologically ambitious project to proceed.
The aid must in all cases be necessary, proportionate and have an appropriate incentive effect.
How is an IPCEI Biotechnologies project structured?
Participation in an IPCEI involves several successive national and European stages. The process typically follows the logic below:
- National call for expressions of interest and project identification
- National assessment and preliminary selection
- European matchmaking and partner search
- Development of the integrated European project
- Preparation of the project’s technological and financial documentation
- European Commission state aid assessment
- Approval and national aid agreement
From the outset, the company must therefore consider not only its own technological development, but also its European points of connection, financing needs and broader economic impact.
What could this mean for companies in Hungary?
Hungary has a significant pharmaceutical, healthcare, R&D and industrial manufacturing base, providing a solid starting point for integration into European biotechnology value chains.
Potentially relevant areas include pharmaceutical and therapeutic developments, new biological manufacturing processes, diagnostic technologies, bioinformatics, and industrial biotechnology and bio-based solutions. Cooperation among universities, research institutions, innovative SMEs and large enterprises can be particularly important in this field.
The benefits of IPCEI participation, however, go beyond financing. A well-positioned Hungarian project can become part of European R&D and industrial partner networks and establish technological collaborations that would be more difficult to create as a standalone national project.
When should a company consider an IPCEI Biotechnologies project?
IPCEI Biotechnologies may be particularly relevant if the planned project:
- creates significant biotechnology innovation;
- goes beyond the current state of the art;
- involves substantial R&D or industrialisation risk;
- can be connected with other European companies or research organisations;
- generates scientific, technological or economic impact beyond the company itself;
- would not be implemented, would be implemented on a smaller scale, or would be significantly delayed without support.
IPCEI Biotechnologies may therefore represent a strategic opportunity for companies that do not merely wish to apply biotechnology, but want to participate in shaping Europe’s next generation of biotechnology technologies and value chains.
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