IUI: Nucleate Belgium kick-off event

Nucleate is a global, trainee-led non-profit that trains researchers to build life-science companies. Founded in 2019 out of the Harvard biotech community, it now runs in 24 regions, and its alumni have founded 303 companies, raised roughly $671M and created 989 full-time jobs. On 29 October it is introduced to Belgium.

The Kick-off opens both programmes: PATH, an education track running through the academic year, and the Activator, which supports forming venture teams from Belgian labs. The afternoon is built around three moderated panels — ecosystem building, intellectual property and venture capital — followed by a networking reception.

It is deliberately a mixed room: bachelor and master students, PhD researchers, postdocs and anyone in academia curious about translation, alongside the investors, IP attorneys, tech-transfer teams and founders who already do this for a living. The community only works if both sides are in it.

Speakers include Jérôme Van Biervliet (VIB), Ann Van Gysel (Biovia), Annick Verween (Biotope), Christina Takke (V-Bio Ventures), Laurenz Govaerts (EQT Group), Vincent Lenders (Qbic), Ellen Crabbe (Brantsandpatents) and Visjaa Popovic (VIB). Nucleate is introduced to Belgium by the Province of Vlaams-Brabant and the City of Leuven, with an opening by Gunther Coppens, Deputy for Economy of the Province of Vlaams-Brabant.

What you will get

• A clear view of the Belgian life-science ecosystem, straight from the people building it — research institutes, tech transfer, patent attorneys and venture investors in the same room.
• Ecosystem building: how research institutions turn scientific excellence into companies, and where a researcher actually enters that system.
• Intellectual property: publish first or file first — the decision that quietly determines whether a discovery can ever become a company.
• Venture capital: what investors look for at each stage, and what makes a life-science pitch land.
• A networking reception, and a route into PATH and the Activator for anyone who wants to keep going afterwards.
• If you are already a founder, investor or operator: early access to the researchers who will start the next companies. Nucleate is an on-ramp to the Belgian ecosystem, never a substitute for it.

Practical
The Nucleate Belgium Kick-off takes place on Thursday 29 October 2026, 15:00 – 20:00, at the Provinciehuis, Provincieplein 1, Leuven.
It is aimed at bachelor and master students, PhD researchers, postdocs and academic staff, alongside professionals from the life-science and investment ecosystem.

Free to attend, registration required.
Full programme, speakers and registration: https://luma.com/nucleate-1f9n 

Questions: Marek Piprek, Co-founder & Managing Director — marekp<at>nucleate<dot>org