On September 1st 2026, TransBioNet officially began, a new European project coordinated by CoLab AccelBio aimed at accelerating the valorisation of European drug discovery research. The project held its online kick-off meeting on September 14th, bringing together the full consortium for a first working session on the project's goals, structure, and next steps.
TransBioNet establishes the first pan-European network of knowledge valorisation intermediaries dedicated to drug discovery, bridging the gap between academic research and clinical application to strengthen Europe's biomedical competitiveness. The project is built around five specific objectives: aligning policy through a shared TransBioNet Charter, developing modular valorisation toolkits, mapping Europe's research infrastructure, launching a digital platform to connect stakeholders, and establishing a training community to build skills across the network. These objectives are supported by a set of strategic pillars spanning policy reshaping, infrastructure connection, community and skills growth, sustainability, science advancement, and the tools needed to put valorisation into practice.
Among its key deliverables, TransBioNet will develop a dedicated Digital Platform, a Valorisation Assessment Toolkit, a European Infrastructure Atlas, and a Digital Training Academy, resources designed to serve a wide range of stakeholders across the drug discovery ecosystem, including academia, SMEs, industry and pharma, technology transfer intermediaries, policymakers, and ultimately society and patients.
The consortium brings together partners including CoLAB AccelBio, Health & Life Sciences Cluster (Bulgaria), Danish Life Science Cluster (Denmark), EATRIS (Netherlands), EIT Health Innostars (Germany), Biocant Park (Portugal) and LithuaniaBio (Lithuania). As project coordinator, AccelBio leads the overall project management and coordination (WP1) as well as the work package on capacity building, mobility, and community development (WP4). DLSC leads the work on policy alignment for biomedical valorisation (WP2), EATRIS leads the development of the knowledge valorisation toolkit and digital platform (WP3), and EIT Health Innostars leads both the launch of Open Calls and the project's financial support scheme (WP5) and the communication, dissemination, and exploitation activities (WP6).
The kick-off meeting gave partners the opportunity to align on the project's challenges and objectives, review the flagship results expected from each work package, and discuss the governance, reporting, and management tools that will guide the consortium's work over the coming years. The session also included statements from the Project Officer and the European Health and Digital Executive Agency (HaDEA), underscoring the European Commission's engagement with the project from its earliest stage.
With the consortium now aligned and its work packages underway, TransBioNet marks an important step in AccelBio's growing role in shaping European drug discovery valorisation, and CoLab AccelBio looks forward to leading this collaborative effort over the course of the project.
