THE BIOPÔLE REVIEW

PIERRE-JEAN WIPFF

‘Innovation is about people’

Page 30 2022 The year in review Page 6

PARTNERSHIPS Clinique La Prairie and its pioneering heritage Page 40

OUTLOOK

The past, the present and the future Page 64

ARCHIVE | Until the late 1990s, the land now occupied by the Biopôle campus was dedicated to agriculture. The La Ferme restaurant, currently managed by Lausanne University Hospital (CHUV, Centre hospitalier universitaire vaudois), is housed in an old farm building constructed in 1794. It is the last vestige of the site’s agricultural past, long since overtaken by the urban development of the cities of Lausanne and Épalinges. The above photograph, taken using a drone in 2006, shows the early stages of construction work on the Metio and Lysine buildings.

Credits

Editor: Biopôle SA

Direction: Emanuela Jurietti

Editorial production: Fran Hamilton and Rosie Tate, Tate & Clayburn

Graphics: Stéphanie Pointet, Agence NOW*

Photography: Adrien Gremaud (pages 4, 23), Burckhardt+Partner and HRS Real Estate SA (pages 54, 59, 71), Dexter surgical robotic system © Distalmotion (page 12), Rafael_Wiedenmeier @ Getty Images (page 68), Metio building © EPIC Suisse (page 68), Losinger Marazzi SA, Arcadie and Architram (pages 48, 71), Superlab Suisse © L. Nguyen (pages 52, 56, 71), Serine building © Nicolas Sedlatchek (page 70), Nicolas Spuhler (pages: 3, 10, 16, 28, 31, 40, 42, 45, 46, 50, 51, 53, 55, 56, 57, 60, 62, 64, 67, 69, 70, 74, 77, 80), TL (page 68).

Cover: Pierre-Jean Wipff, Director of Innovation and Partnerships at Biopôle SA since January 2022, visited the production facilities of Distalmotion, which now occupy more than 2,000 m2 in the Phenyl building. Michael Friederich and his team have been growing their company there since 2018, photography by Nicolas Spuhler.

It’s a Biopôle first!

Eighteen years have passed since Biopôle SA was created in 2004. Looking back at the company’s journey, so many people have contributed to its history. Such a vibrant community has been created that we wanted to record some of its stories and share some of the work taking place on campus. And this is where this publication comes in. It’s a pleasure for me to present to you the first edition of The Biopôle Review.

Switzerland, and Romandie in particular, is home to a wealth of important activity in the life sciences: it’s an exciting environment where people like to exchange, and exchange leads to innovation. This magazine serves to document and share the pivotal role that Biopôle SA, and the Biopôle campus as a whole, play within this scientific ecosystem. In particular, it is an opportunity for us to reflect on our progress and achievements in 2022 and look forward with ambition to 2023.

Half the people on campus work in research and development, so it’s no wonder that innovation plays such an important role in our activities. In 2022, Pierre-Jean Wipff joined our team to lead our efforts in nurturing innovation and partnerships across and beyond our community. In our interview, he explains Biopôle SA’s approach and the programmes it has developed to support its members and the life sciences ecosystem around them.

We also took a moment to meet with our President of the Board Nouria Hernandez and CEO Nasri Nahas who share their reflections on Biopôle and their vision for its future. It’s an inspiring reminder of what can be achieved by really listening to people and understanding their needs.

I hope you enjoy reading this publication as much as I did, and whether you are a Biopôle member, a partner, an associate, or just a curious bystander, I hope you will find it informative, inspiring and motivating.

Emanuela Jurietti

The park today and tomorrow – by 2025 there will be 14 buildings on site.