Ahead of the curve

Flanders is bucking a European trend with lucrative returns from its biotech industry

Flanders has become a real hub for biotechnology, with half the biotech shares traded these days on the Euronext stock exchange belonging to companies based here. So what exactly is biotech, and what’s the secret of the region’s success?

Last month, more than 16,000 visitors from 65 countries gathered in Chicago for the annual Bio International Convention, the world’s largest event for the biotech industry. It’s a little like the World’s Fair, with a Belgian pavilion that gathers the country’s participating companies. There, visitors to the convention – not tourists, but businessmen representing other biotech firms – were introduced to, apart from waffles, fries and beer, another of our prestigious exports: biotechnology.

Senne Sterckx
(May 15, 2013)

Train carriages hauled away from Wetteren

School reopens, and most residents have returned home in aftermath of crash

The town of Wetteren in East Flanders was gradually returning to normal this week, following the rail accident two weekends ago that led to a fire, toxic chemicals entering the sewer system and chaos for the rail network in the area. One elderly man died in his home from exposure to the fumes.

This Monday saw the start of the operation to remove the damaged tanks from the scene of the accident, 10 days after the derailment of the train carrying the chemical acrylonitrile. The six rearmost carriages, which were not derailed, were hosed down and attached to a locomotive to be towed to Dendermonde, about 15km away.

Alan Hope
(May 15, 2013)