Lithuania – The Lithuanian Northway is building the largest European Biotech Hub in Vilnius. The size of the planned Bio City set to be the size of 10 football fields, with an investment of approximately seven billion Euros. It would contain four manufacturing plants and two research centres and provide 2,000 job opportunities. These institutions will support the research of new drug technologies, gene research, stem cell research, and 3D bioprinting. The first facility to open, in the next year, will be a gene therapy centre. According to Northway, it’ll be the first of its kind in the Baltic states. It will cover 8,000square metres, and it’s expected to create more than 100 high-value jobs.
Corporate and public perspectives
As Vladas Algirdas Bumelis, the CEO of Northway shared they aim to “showcase Lithuania’s stature as a high-tech hub.” “Our unique model, which brings together diverse biotechnology fields in one location, is set to revolutionise the European biotech landscape”- he added. Aušrinė Armonaitė, the Minister of Economy and Innovation was supportive and stated that the project is „a monumental achievement not just for Lithuanian enterprises but for the entire country.” The President of the Republic of Lithuania, Gitanas Nausda shared that optimism: „A science-based economy, supported by bright minds and intelligent entrepreneurs, is the foundation for Lithuania’s long-term economic prosperity. In the past, our growth was constrained by a lack of fossil resources, but today, we are boldly moving forward, relying on modern technologies. The new biotechnology hub embodies the direction of Lithuania’s innovative economy. It also promises new inventions that will enable people with serious illnesses to become full members of society, thereby reducing exclusion.”
Biotechnology in Lithuania
By the plans of the government, biotechnology will reach 5% of Lithuania’s GDP by 2030. At the moment it reaches 2.5%. According to Scientific American Worldview journal, Lithuania is already ranking among the Top 35 innovative countries in biotechnology. “The Northway group, a key actor in Lithuania’s biotech sector, has seven companies: five in Lithuania and one each in the US and the UK. In the US, in recent years Northway is recognised as the largest biotech investor from the Baltic region.