On 24 April 2026, we welcomed the cell and gene therapy community to PLNT Leiden for the first edition of Future of CGT. Throughout the day, professionals across development, manufacturing, regulation, clinical translation, investment, and company building came together to exchange ideas, share experiences, and discuss the future of advanced therapies.
We thank all speakers, partners, sponsors, and attendees for helping shape an open, practical, and forward-looking event. Your contributions, discussions, and engagement made Future of CGT 2026 a strong start for this growing community.
We look forward to continuing the conversation at Future of CGT 2027. More details soon!
Thank you to our main partners
The Conversations CGT Leaders Have Been Waiting For
If you’re building a CGT programme, many meetings either remain highly scientific or stay at a general level. What’s often harder to find is space for practical discussion of the development decisions that determine whether a programme is feasible, well before late-stage clinical development or commercial planning.
Future of CGT is designed to support that type of exchange.
In CGT, success isn’t just about innovation. It’s about building the right company around it.
It’s where founders, operators, scientists, and strategic leads come together to share how they’re preparing for partnerships, navigating regulatory risks, planning for manufacturing before it’s urgent, and thinking commercially from day one.
It’s the kind of gathering where people stop pitching and start trading lessons about what’s worked, what hasn’t, and what they wish they’d known a year earlier.
Who should join?
This event is built for people shaping CGT companies from the inside out.
- Founders making hard calls on funding and focus.
- Commercial leads figuring out how to position what’s still in development.
- Scientists and clinicians developing the therapies for patients
- Regulatory and CMC leads translating ambition into approvals.
- Investors who know the next big thing won’t look like the last one.
If you’re building, backing, or scaling in CGT —you belong here.
Reprogramming Transplant Immunity: Frank Schnieder on A New Frontier in Gene Therapy
Biotech executive Frank Schnieders shares how Allogenetics is advancing gene therapy to improve transplant success, reduce rejection, and enhance patient quality of life.
From Delivery Bottleneck to Platform Strategy: Ester Weijers on Scaling CRISPR Editing in Cell Therapy
Ester Weijers explains why CRISPR delivery remains a bottleneck in cell therapy and how scalable editing strategies can shape manufacturing, cost, and patient access.
Why Future of CGT Exists
Future of CGT comes from a simple observation: most conversations in this field stay too high-level to be useful. This piece explores what happens when you shift the focus to real challenges.
Building Viable CGT Programmes from Concept to Clinic
This conference brings together practical experience from across the CGT development pathway. Sessions explore how teams align regulatory expectations with realistic timelines, design CMC and nonclinical strategies that minimise rework, and make disciplined choices around evidence generation, outsourcing, and internal capability build.
The focus is on execution and decision-making—often the “small” calls that determine whether programmes progress efficiently or encounter avoidable delays.
The Location — PLNT Leiden
Our venue is PLNT, the heart of innovation in Leiden’s biotech ecosystem. Located just minutes from Leiden Central Station, PLNT brings together startups, scale-ups, and forward-looking thinkers in life sciences and tech. With modern facilities, flexible spaces, and a rooftop view over the city, it’s built for collaboration and sharp conversations; exactly the kind of environment where the future of CGT belongs.
The Program
Besides keynote talks from CGT veterans who’ve built, led, and scaled programs across development stages, the program runs in parallel streams focused on clinical strategy, regulatory progress, and CMC readiness. Each session will offer hands-on insight into planning, coordination, and decision-making.
Alongside the main program, you’ll find a curated carousel of emerging enabling technologies, expert-led workshops on critical topics, and dedicated space for 1:1 partnering conversations grounded in real expertise.
It’s a working agenda for teams actively building the next generation of CGT companies.