A total of 28 tenants have already had their formal submissions evaluated and approved by Malta Enterprise for them to be offered tenancy at the Malta Life Sciences Park.

Of these, 18 are already operating at the park, Malta Enterprise confirmed.

The European Development Regional Funding (ERDF), which co-financed the project, envisages supporting 40 entities in order for the MLSP to be sustainable ­– although sustainability is obviously dependent on the revenue paid by the tenants.

Space is allocated to companies that complement each other

The ERDF conditions also require that MLSP will support start-ups, innovative processes, products and markets through networking and collaboration.

The park was first mooted in 2010 and was originally meant to cost €20 million, with completion due in 2012/2013. By the time the project actually started in 2012, the investment had already gone up to €38 million. The centre took over 11,000 square metres at the San Ġwann industrial estate previously occupied by Malta Enterprise and was completed in 2014.

Malta Enterprise has been trying to allocate space to companies which would complement each other, creating clusters that would dovetail with other sectors of the Maltese economy, sources said.

So far, the companies moving there are involved in medical device development, pharma and technology development, scientific services, food technology development, medical research and regulations, training and education, software development, DNA testing and generics development and testing, patent systems development, pharmaceutical formulations and laboratory services and networking.

Malta Enterprise’s investment promotion section has for the past 24 months been trying to identify tenants, and is in contact with a number of local and international experts in the trending life sciences sectors in order to find potential players who may be interested in setting up operations.