Northway Group is set to invest $7.6 billion over the next decade to build Europe’s largest biotechnology hub in Lithuania, Vilnius. The project, called Bio City, aims to boost Lithuania’s global biotech presence by establishing four advanced biomanufacturing facilities and two research centres. The project covers an area equivalent to 10 football fields and will include four manufacturing plants and two scientific research centres. Celltechna is building an 8,000 square-meter gene therapy centre, expected to be completed by 2024, with over 100 jobs expected.

The gene therapy facility will be the first of its kind in the Baltic States and will work with Northway Biotech, which invested $40 million in May 2022 to build a facility in Waltham, Massachusetts. By 2030, five additional complexes will be added, including an R&D and virology centre, large-scale microbial production centre, large-scale mammalian production centre, life science service centre, and steam cell research and 3D bioprinting centre.

Lithuania holds a strong position in the global biotechnology landscape due to its excellent university system and concentration of life science talents. The country has a large academically trained population and the highest employment rate of tertiary-educated young adults in the EU at 90%. The project aims to create 2,100 jobs across all six complexes.

Biotechnology is a burgeoning sector globally, and countries in Central Eastern Europe (CEE) possess the potential to excel due to their well-educated populations in STEM fields. With a strong foundation in science and technology, CEE nations, including the Baltic States, Poland, Hungary, and the Czech Republic, can leverage their skilled workforce to propel advancements in biotechnology. Investment in research and development, coupled with collaborative initiatives between academia and industry, will be pivotal.

The issue for many of these countries, including Lithuania, is to stop the brain-drain of talents to the US and Western Europe.