The European Investment Bank (EIB) is to grant €325 million to KU Leuven and UZ Leuven for the construction of the Health Sciences Campus Gasthuisberg, a medical and university centre providing acute care, education and research in a single location.
The EIB agreed to support the project because it considers it to be a major initiative in line with the European policies for health, education and innovation.
Philippe Maystadt, EIB President, Mark Waer, Rector, KU Leuven, Koenraad Debackere, General manager KU Leuven, Guy Mannaerts, Chairman of the Board of UZ Leuven and Johan Kips, CEO UZ Leuven signed the loan agreement during an presentation of the project in Leuven on Monday (8 March).
The project will create a centre of excellence, combining acute and specialist hospital services on a single campus together with teaching activities and the biomedical research base of KU Leuven. As such, it will also provide a central specialist hospital within KU Leuven clinical network, offering the highest level of healthcare services to the patients.
At the signing and presentation, Waer and Mannaerts stressed that UZ Leuven and KU Leuven have developed a common vision for the future, “To provide the highest level of medical services and achieve a prime position to remain competitive on a European level.”
They thanked the EIB, as the financing arm of the EU, for joining the project, giving access to long term funding on the best terms.
Maystadt said the loan is a “first for the EIB in Belgium” and he praised the joint effort of the university and the hospital in R&D on the campus, which he said will act as a magnet site for third parties and satellite projects in innovative sectors. “We know how crucial R&D and innovation are to stimulate long-term investments that will contribute to economic recovery.”
The Campus of Gasthuisberg is situated at the western outskirts of the city of Leuven. The first building to be completed will be allocated to intensive care.
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