€100 million investment plan clears way for bigger Pivot Park

The proposed public investment will create new facilities for scaling biotech companies and help Pivot Park more than double its employment by 2036. Final approval is still required.

Plans for a € 100 million expansion of Pivot Park in Oss have taken a significant step forward. Oss's municipal executive and North Brabant's provincial executive have backed a proposal to finance the first phase of the pharmaceutical campus’s long-term development strategy.

Under the proposal, Oss would invest approximately €30 million, while North Brabant would provide around €70 million. The division broadly reflects Pivot Park's ownership: the province holds a 70.7% stake, with the municipality owning the remainder.

The money would fund new business premises, facilities for biotech companies moving from the startup to the scale-up phase, a central community building with a restaurant, and sustainability improvements across the campus. Some ageing buildings dating from the former Organon complex would be demolished or replaced.

The plans are not yet final. The Oss Municipal Council still has to approve the municipality’s contribution, while the Provincial Council of North Brabant will be given an opportunity to express its views on the provincial investment.

Scaleups running out of room

Pivot Park has maintained an occupancy rate of around 90% in recent years. The campus currently accommodates some 65 companies and provides more than 880 jobs, according to the municipality. In 2012, the campus had only 23 companies and 135 employees.

That rapid growth has created a shortage of suitable laboratory and office space. In particular, companies that have successfully passed the startup phase can struggle to find facilities that allow them to scale up without leaving the campus or the region.

“Companies want to continue growing at Pivot Park, and we must give them those opportunities,” Oss alderman Nick Pruimboom said.

The proposed scale-up facilities are intended to close that gap. They would complement the existing Pivot Incubator, which provides early-stage biopharmaceutical companies with ready-to-use laboratories, shared equipment and business support.

A new community building is another central element of the plan. It is intended to replace facilities inherited from the former Organon site and provide a shared restaurant and meeting place for employees from different companies. According to Pruimboom, this interaction and exchange of knowledge is precisely what distinguishes an innovation campus from a conventional business park.

From job losses to pharmaceutical cluster

Pivot Park emerged after MSD announced the closure of its research and development activities in Oss. The campus was founded through a joint initiative involving MSD, the municipality, the province, the national government and the Brabant Development Agency. Its original purpose was to retain pharmaceutical expertise after 1,100 R&D jobs came under threat.

Since then, the site has developed into one of the Netherlands’ pharmaceutical clusters. Companies on the campus work across the drug-development chain, from early research and product development to contract research, manufacturing and specialist services.

Recent construction has already shown how quickly the campus can absorb additional capacity. The nine-storey Marie Curie building, completed in late 2023, added 11,000 square metres of laboratories, offices and shared facilities, expanding the campus by more than 25%. Six existing Pivot Park companies immediately took the space, needing room to grow.

Work is also underway on the Panther building, which will accommodate laboratories and offices for Aspen Oss. The facility will allow Aspen and BioChem Oss to consolidate activities currently spread across several locations. Final delivery is scheduled for July 2027.

Ambitions for 2036

The €100 million package represents the first phase of the Campus Vision Pivot Park 2036, adopted by the shareholders in December 2025. The strategy is intended to put the campus on a financially sustainable footing while providing sufficient space for continued growth.

By 2036, Pivot Park aims to accommodate around 115 companies and 2,100 jobs. The development can take place within the campus’s existing boundaries: outdated buildings will be replaced, and the available site will be used more intensively, meaning no outward expansion is currently required.

The investment therefore concerns more than additional floor space. For Oss and North Brabant, it is also a way to retain growing life-science companies, attract specialised talent and reinforce a pharmaceutical ecosystem that stretches from drug discovery to industrial manufacturing.

If the two public shareholders grant final approval, Pivot Park will be able to turn more of the companies it helps launch into mature biotech businesses, without losing them once they begin to grow.