On Friday, June 5, 2026, the LIEGE Science Park hosted the 20th edition of the Business-University Jog, organized to benefit the ELA Belgium association. A symbolic anniversary, marked by an impressive turnout: 2,336 participants, nearly a third of whom were from the University of Liège, and €47,610 in net donations raised to support research into leukodystrophies and support for families.
Since its first edition, held on Friday, June 1, 2007, the LIEGE Science Park Business-University Jog has continued to grow. What began with 317 participants—specifically 220 joggers and 97 walkers—has, twenty years later, become an unmissable event of solidarity at the Liège Science Park. Over the years, the event has also evolved: once organized with rankings and timing, it now focuses entirely on camaraderie, discovery, connection, and collective commitment.
For this 20th edition, participants had a choice of three routes: a walk, a 6 km or 11 km run starting from ULiège-RISE, as well as a brand-new anniversary route, “20 Years – 20 km,” organized in partnership with the University Hospital of Liège. Designed for experienced runners, this new route symbolically started at the University Hospital of Esneux, from the Center for Neurological Rehabilitation, before heading to the LIEGE Science Park.
In total, 1,109 runners, 1,077 walkers, and 148 supporters took part in this anniversary edition.
Originally, the Business-University Jog was based on a simple, unifying principle: forming mixed teams combining businesses, university members, and CHU staff, with a sporting, friendly, and solidarity-driven goal—namely, to cross the finish line as a team, hand in hand. The event was already aimed at building connections among neighbors in the science park, fostering exchanges, and generating broad support for ELA Belgium.
In 2016, for its 10th edition, the jog took a new step forward. The organizers chose to highlight the LIEGE Science Park environment and its key players. The route was transformed into a true “open house” event, with participants welcomed at six companies, research centers, and facilities within the park. This evolution marked a turning point in the history of the jog, strengthening the involvement of companies and the LIEGE Science Park Business Committee in the organization.
Ten years later, this momentum has continued to grow. For the 2026 edition, 18 companies, research centers, and ULiège departments opened their doors and welcomed participants along the route. On the ULiège side, participants notably passed through or discovered the Wind Tunnel Facility, the Chemical Engineering Department, the Aquapôle, the Liège Space Center, and the RestosU. On the corporate side, CRM, Amos, Greisch, BVI Medical, Cilyx, Euresys, EVS, iol Strategic Design, Lacar, Lasea, Technifutur, Technord, and Unisensor helped bring this unique tour to life. Two new partners, CRM and BVI Medical, joined the welcoming initiative this year.
This approach now makes the Business-University Jogging much more than a sporting event: it is an opportunity for companies, researchers, members of the University and the University Hospital, and local stakeholders to come together in support of a common cause.
Organized to benefit ELA Belgium, the jog has been helping for 20 years to fund research into leukodystrophies—rare genetic diseases that affect the central nervous system—as well as providing concrete support to the families affected.
Over two decades, the LIEGE Science Park Jog has contributed €85,000 to research and funded approximately €337,000 in material and psychological support for families. This support has notably enabled more than 200 financial interventions to assist patients: respite stays, reimbursement for adult diapers, medications and palliative care injections, personal co-payments for adaptive equipment, or equipment not funded by the government, such as certain home or vehicle modifications. More than 30 respite stays were also provided.
On the research front, the advances supported over the years by ELA have helped open up major new avenues: the development and demonstration of efficacy of gene and cell therapies for certain forms of leukodystrophies, the availability of gene therapy for metachromatic leukodystrophy in early-stage patients, Phase 3 trials for Krabbe disease, and several drugs currently in clinical trials for Canavan disease, Aicardi-Goutières syndrome, and other forms of leukodystrophies.
Since its inception, ULiège-RISE has coordinated the overall organization of the LIEGE Science Park Jog and played a leading role in structuring, developing, and ensuring the long-term sustainability of this initiative. The event has gradually grown thanks to the joint efforts of the RISE teams, the LIEGE Science Park Business Committee, participating companies, research centers, volunteers, ULiège, the University Hospital, and the many loyal participants.
“This 20th edition is obviously very moving. Over the past twenty years, we have seen this event grow, evolve, bring together an ever-wider audience, and become a true gathering of solidarity within the LIEGE Science Park. This success belongs to all those who, year after year, laced up their sneakers, opened their doors, gave their time, or supported ELA. We thank from the bottom of our hearts the organizing committee’s partners, the companies, the research centers, the volunteers, and the loyal participants who made this adventure possible,” emphasizes Fabienne Hocquet, event coordinator for ULiège-RISE.
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L'édition 2026 de la Nuit des Chercheur·es se tiendra le vendredi 25 septembre 2026. Impliquée dans la Nuit des Chercheur·es depuis sa création, l'ULiège vous invite à participer à cette manifestation de culture scientifique.
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