Biowin and the Walloon Government sign a cooperation agreement with the Consortium Québecois sur la Découverte du Médicament (CQDM) in the frame of a new joint Canada/Wallonia funding programme. This agreement will enable SMEs and university researchers in Canada to collaborate with Walloon SMEs for better R&D on drugs.

This agreement aims to strengthen biomedical research in Canada and Wallonia thanks to the alignment of expertise and scientific resources for the development of new generation tools, technologies and platforms. 

Maximum contributions of €750,000 in Wallonia and $700,000 in Canada will be granted for each accredited project for a maximum period of two years. The research conducted in Canada will be financed directly by the CQDM in the form of a subsidy or an investment. In Wallonia, subsidies will be provided by the Government and the SMEs involved in the project.

"For the past ten years, Wallonia has been developing a strategy of intelligent specialisation through its competitiveness cluster policy. The cooperation agreement signed with Canada now offers us a unique opportunity to strengthen economic exchanges in an innovative field in which our two countries together are global leaders especially in the health sector", declared Minister Marcourt.

"This new bilateral agreement and the related tender provide the perfect framework for Biowin's globalisation strategy", explained Sylvie Ponchaut, Biowin's Managing Director. "The cluster wants to offer its members an opening for cooperative projects in international innovation, as was the case in 2013 and 2014 with Massachusetts.  "