Scale-up Experience Day for Start-Ups, SMEs, Corporates and Investors at Bio Base Europe Pilot Plant
Location
Bio Base Europe Pilot Plant
Date
02.12.2026 - 02.12.2026
Time
09:00 - 15:00
On 2 December 2026,, the Bio Base Europe Pilot Plant is opening its doors for a unique Scale-up Experience Day comprising, besides a site-visit, interesting workshops and discussions.
This Scale-up Experience Day is linked to the Pitch Perfect and Boost the European Bioeconomy 2026 event, to be held on 30 November & 1 December 2026 at Sheraton Brussels Airport: Programme, Registration and Abstract Submission via: www.pitchperfectbioeconomy.eu. Upon registration for this event, one can indicate an intention to participation in the Scale-up Experience Day (max. 150 participants). A shuttle bus will depart from Sheraton Brussels Airport at 8am sharp on Wednesday December 2nd, 2026 and will be back at Brussels Airport around 4pm.
PROGRAM
| 8:00 | DEPARTURE shuttle bus at Brussels Airport |
| 9:00 – 10:35 | Study Visit to the Bio Base Europe Pilot Plant |
| 9:00 – 9:10 | Welcome By Wim Soetaert, CEO, Bio Base Europe Pilot Plant |
| 9:10 – 9:40 | Bio Base Europe Pilot Plant: Scale-up and so much more! By Speaker TBC, Bio Base Europe Pilot Plant |
| 9:40 – 9:50 | Q&A |
| 9:50 – 10:35 | Seeing is believing: Guided tour of the facilities By multiple guides |
| 10:35 – 11:00 | NETWORKING COFFEE BREAK |
| 11:00 – 15:00 | Scale-up workshop: Win the Scale-Up Challenge: Building Efficient, Scalable and Economically Viable Bioprocesses |
| 11:00 – 11:05 | Introduction: Framing the aim and content of the workshop By Hendrik Waegeman, Head of Business operations, Bio Base Europe Pilot Plant |
| 11:05 – 12:10 | Scale-up workshop: Win the Scale-Up Challenge: PART 1: Begin with the End in Mind What do I want to achieve? 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? How do I align my fundraising? |
| 11:05 – 11:15 | Why do I need an external expert view on my process? By Alex Patist, COO Arzeda & Paebble |
| 11:15 – 11:23 | Help, where do I start? Introducing the Scale-Up Accelerator Network (SAN) By Esthèle Goure, SAN Responsible, Bio Base Europe Pilot Plant |
| 11:23 – 11:32 | Supercharge growth through strategic fundraising By Katelijne Bekers, Co-Founder & CEO, MicroHarvest, TBC |
| 11:32 – 11:40 | The Investors POV By Joy Faucher, Forbion Bioeconomy, TBC |
| 11:40 – 12:10 | Panel discussion / Q&A Moderated by Hendrik Waegeman, Head of Business operations, Bio Base Europe Pilot Plant |
| 12:00 – 12:50 | Scale-up workshop: Win the Scale-Up Challenge: PART 2: I Hate to Burst your Bubble, but the Economics Will Never Work |
| 12:00 – 12:10 | Why you need to think of TEA early on By Koen Clymans, Owner & Director, UR Bright Side |
| 12:10 – 12:18 | TEA across TRL scales, from early development to installation design choices: The R&D POV By Fernanda Thimoteo, PhD Candidate, Project Manager, BBEPP |
| 12:18 – 12:26 | TEA across TRL scales, from early development to installation design choices: The Engineering POV By Iancu Avram, Project Manager, BBEPP |
| 12:26 – 12:50 | Panel discussion / Q&A Moderated by Hendrik Waegeman, Head of Business operations, Bio Base Europe Pilot Plant |
| 12:50 – 13:30 | NETWORKING LUNCH |
| 13:30 – 14:45 | Scale-up workshop: Win the Scale-Up Challenge: PART 3: Democratizing Biosolutions: from Niche to Commodity |
| 13:30 – 13:38 | Cost advantaged fermentation with DAB.bio technology By Eric van der Meer, CEO, DAB.bio |
| 13:38 – 13:46 | The future of AI in biomanufacturing By Diogo Pinto & Alexander Verschraegen, Bio Base Europe Pilot Plant |
| 13:46 – 13:54 | Smart sensors for autonomous and decentralized follow-up of fermentation processes: the first results! By Amir Atabaki, Co-Founder & CEO, Perceptra, TBC |
| 13:54 – 14:02 | Ready-to-Use starter cultures for scalable and reliable biomanufacturing: the first results! By Troels Prahl, Co-Founder & CEO, Swan Neck Bio, TBC |
| 14:02 – 14:10 | Sequential fed-batch method By Semiramis Yilmaz, Researcher, VIB, TBC |
| 14:10 – 14:18 | From niche to commodity By Will Van den Tweel, COO/CTO, Those Vegan Cowboys |
| 14:18 – 14:45 | Panel discussion / Q&A Moderated by Hendrik Waegeman, Head of Business operations, Bio Base Europe Pilot Plant |
| 14:45 – 14:50 | CLOSING |
| 15:00 | DEPARTURE shuttle bus for Brussels Airport |
| 16:00 | ARRIVAL at Brussels Airport |
REGISTRATION: www.pitchperfectbioeconomy.eu.
This visit is part of the “Scale -up & Growth” programme offered by the “Pilots4U powered by COPILOT” project.
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