Review of 10 years of activity

TWB celebrates its tenth anniversary this year. Since its creation in 2012, TWB has conducted 285 R&D projects, brought together 51 key biotech players around a consortium supporting innovation and invested €8.1m in 41 pre-competitive projects led by external laboratories to promote breakthrough innovation. With an estimated increase in turnover of 10% (compared to 2021), and a 40% increase in projects in one year, 2022 promises to be TWB’s best year since its creation.

TWB was created in 2012 following a call for projects under the French investment programme “Health and Biotechnology – Pre-industrial Demonstrators”. The French National Research Agency (ANR) funded TWB to the tune of €20 million and set a target of €21.8 million in industrial contracts to be signed by the end of 2019. TWB succeeded in meeting this target in the first quarter of 2018 and has now more than €50 million in signed industrial contracts.

© Photo TWB / Jérémie Lortic

TWB: a catalyst for innovation

In 2015, a start-up was created as a result of a pre-competitive project funded by TWB. TWB then decided to launch a new activity: hosting start-ups and giving them access to the platforms’ cutting-edge technologies and the teams’ know-how. Nine start-ups have been hosted since 2015 and five are currently evolving at TWB: PILI, BioC3, iMEAN, Lantana Bio & Aviwell.

In 2018, TWB created the TWB START-UP DAY, an annual event that brings together international players in the sector: major industrial companies, investment funds, start-ups and academics. Two competitions take place for start-ups and entrepreneurs in the process of creation. Previous winners have come from Israel, Spain, Switzerland, Denmark, France, the UK and Germany. The 2022 edition brought together ten speakers and 200 industry professionals from twelve countries.

2022: TWB’s best year to date

This year is marked by a strengthening of its integrated offer with an investment of €2.5M in state-of-the-art technological equipment and new services offered in collaboration with emerging start-ups of the consortium: Processium and Syngulon.

The industrial integrator TIBH (Toulouse Industrial Biotechnology for Health), which has already supported the set up of a dozen bioproduction projects since 2020, has obtained the renewal of its labeling for a further five years.

In July 2022, the Canadian group Premier Tech and the Lyon-based start-up Bon Vivant joined the TWB consortium, strengthening its position in the field of well-being.

Ambitions by 2025

Continue to develop its integrated & packaged offers to conduct large-scale projects:
– Strengthen its capacity to scale up with CRITT Bio-Industries;
– Establish partnerships with international academic laboratories.

Strengthen its support for innovation transfer:
– Double the financial resources deployed for pre-competitive projects led by academic laboratories;
– Consolidate its capacity to support start-ups (off and on site).

Build loyalty and develop its network of partners.

Become the national innovation platform of reference via France 2030:
– Support project leaders to develop technologies and new production methods for all markets (agriculture, health, food, etc.).

More information: Press release