Open Day for Start-Ups, SMEs, Corporates and Investors at Bio Base Europe Pilot Plant

On 26 November  2025, the Bio Base Europe Pilot Plant is opening its doors for a unique OPEN DAY serving, besides a site-visit, an interesting Scale-Up Workshop entitled “The art of scaling: How to design your cost-effective bioprocess in the most efficient way” dealing with topics such as:

 Scale-up Accelerator Network meets Due Diligence

 Does my scale-up plan make sense and how can I implement Techno-Economic Assessment (TEA) across TRL scales?

 Breaking the cost barrier in biomanufacturing

 Reflections on what Pitch Perfect brought us this year (Roundtable).

This Open Day is linked to the Pitch Perfect and Boost the European Bioeconomy 2025 event, to be held on 24 & 25 November 2025 at Sheraton Brussels Airport: Programme, Registration and Abstract Submission via: www.pitchperfectbioeconomy.eu. Upon registration for this event, one can indicate participation to the Open Day. A shuttle bus will depart from Sheraton Brussels Airport at 8am sharp on Wednesday November 26th, 2025 and will be back at Brussels Airport around 4pm.

This visit is part of the “Scale -up & Growth” programme offered by the “Pilots4U powered by COPILOT” project.

PROGRAMME: 

9:00 – 10:35: Study Visit to the Bio Base Europe Pilot Plant

9:00 – 9:10 am: Welcome
9:10 – 9:50 am: Bio Base Europe Pilot Plant: Scale-up and so much more!
9:50 – 10:35 am: Seeing is believing: Guided tour of the facilities

10:35 – 10:55: Networking coffee break

10:55 – 15:00: Scale-up workshop: The art of scaling – How to design your cost-effective bioprocess in the most efficient way.

10:55 – 11:00: Introduction: Framing the aim and content of the workshop, By Hendrik Waegeman, Head of Business operations, Bio Base Europe Pilot Plant

Part 1: Scale-Up Accelerator Network meets Due Diligence
When is the right time to scale-up? How should I set my priorities? What should I be prepared for when starting to talk to investors?

11:00 – 11:08: Help, where do I start? Introduction to the Scale-Up Accelerator Network (SAN), By Esthèle Goure, SAN Responsible, BBEPP
11:08 – 11:16: Why do I need an external expert view on my process? By Michael Helmut Kopf, formerly BASF and SAN Expert, tbc
11:16 – 11:24: Taking the Due Diligence hurdle with grace, By Joeri Beauprez, Founder and CSO, Inbiose
11:24 – 11:32: The Investors POV, By Mariam Cherifi, Associate at Sofinnova Partners
11:32 – 12:00: Interactive Panel Discussion / Q&A, Moderated by Sam Nejame, CEO, Presence-Promotum

Part 2: Does my scale-up plan make sense and how can I implement Techno-Economic Assessment (TEA) across TRL scales?

12:00 – 12:08: Why you need to think of TEA early on – TEAs and process modeling with SuperPro Designer, By Vassilis Parisis, Application & Consulting Engineer, Intelligen
12:08 – 12:16: TEA across TRL scales, from early development to installation design choices, By Iancu Avram, Project Manager, BBEPP
12:16 – 12:40: Interactive Panel discussion / Q&A, Moderated by Sam Nejame, CEO, Presence-Promotum

12:40 – 13:20: NETWORKING LUNCH

Part 3: Breaking the cost barrier in biomanufacturing

13:20 – 13:28: Cost advantaged fermentation with DAB.bio technology, By Eric van der Meer, CEO, DAB.bio
13:28 – 13:36: Continuous fermentation for biosurfactants production: Dream of reality? By Sophie Roelants, Co-Founder & COO, AmphiStar, BE
13:36 – 13:44: Solvent Impregnated Resins, By Sinah Tönjes, R&D Platform Manager Innovative DSP, BBEPP
13:44 – 13:52: Autonomous and decentralized follow-up of fermentation processes thanks to smart sensors, By Amir Atabaki, Co-Founder & CEO, Perceptra, tbc
13:52 – 14:00: Ready-to-Use starter cultures for scalable and reliable biomanufacturing, By Troels Prahl, Co-Founder & CEO, Swan Neck Bio
14:00 – 14:30: Interactive Panel discussion / Q&A, Moderated by Sam Nejame, CEO, Presence-Promotum                              

Part 4: Roundtable: Reflections on what Pitch Perfect brought us this year.

14:30 – 15:00: The 2 most inspiring start-ups and the 2 most inspiring investors, tbc, Moderated by Hendrik Waegeman, Head of Business Operations, Bio Base Europe Pilot Plant.

15:00: DEPARTURE shuttle bus for Brussels Airport

16:00: ARRIVAL at Brussels Airport

This visit is part of the “Scale -up & Growth” programme offered by the “Pilots4U powered by COPILOT” project. The “Pilots4U powered by COPILOT” project is a CBE-JU CSA project that will update, expand and make the database of Open Access Pilot and Demo Infrastructures for the European Bioeconomy future-proof and self sustainable through co-creation. Furthermore the project will grow, train and nurture the stakeholder communities linked to this database by means of the “Scale-up & Growth” and the “Connect & Exchange” Programmes.

A shuttle bus will depart from Sheraton Brussels Airport at 8am sharp on Wednesday November 26th, 2025 and will be back at Brussels Airport around 3pm.

More information and registration: katrien.molders@bbeu.org.