about building

Emanuela Jurietti, Marketing and Communications Director

I joined Biopôle SA in 2018, but started working with the team back in 2015, when I was in PR – Biopôle was my main client. I still remember my first meeting with Nasri Nahas, the then-new CEO. He told me about the campus and his vision for it, then said something that intrigued me: ‘We’re going to build a new community.’ At that point I wondered, how is it possible to build one from scratch? Yet at the start of 2023, the Biopôle campus is home to a vibrant, thriving community, so it seems a fine position from which to look back and consider how it happened.

First steps: Knock on doors and share your vision

In 2015, people had been working at the Biopôle campus for over half a decade. There were 20 life sciences companies on site, all working in the same sector, with common interests, common knowledge and common objectives – but no sense of community. First Nasri and later our whole team worked to change that. We referred to the community in internal and external communication, sharing our vision with the CEOs on site and the life sciences community beyond. We started organising events and found community ambassadors who were convinced about the added value of what we were doing. We set up an intranet so that people could find information about the campus, which evolved into the MyBiopôle app. And slowly, it worked. At some point, all the talk of the community became more than just talk. In fact, Biopôle members started using tools that we had provided, such as the app, and organising their own community events!

But who is the community?

When I mention the community, it’s not just one big group, encompassing the 2,500 people on site. We actually have lots of different communities – layers – and people can belong to many of them at once: the community of entrepreneurs, postgrads completing their PhDs on campus, the expats, the StartLab-ers, the DH2 residents, or the deeply committed Afterwork attendees! Biopôle SA’s role is to identify those communities and consider where we can play a role to bring them together.

How we engage the community has changed a lot. In the past, we had to go knocking on doors to get people involved. And lots of people weren’t interested. They didn’t see it as a valuable use of their time. Now, people are proactive about being part of the community and newcomers join our campus mainly because they want to profit from said community spirit. They see the point of getting out of their offices, coming to the events and exchanging ideas with the people around them – and they actually want more. I guess that when people experience the beauty of collaborating, it’s addictive – and you don’t want it to stop, because such events lead to opportunities, collaboration, sharing of knowledge and networks.

Of course, this is still a working environment. People have busy, busy diaries. So we have to make sure that community activities are relevant and accessible to them. They need to fit around their working days: a workshop at midday with sandwiches, for example. And food, in general, is very important. Everyone needs to eat! We ensure that the restaurants, food trucks and picnic areas are places where the community can meet as part of their day-to-day lives. It’s hard to have a good conversation in front of your computer. The campus is designed to provide spaces where people can take time to eat, relax and see what’s going on around them.

Biopôle SA as a mediator

One of our key jobs is to connect people. We act as brokers in the community. Someone can come to us and say, ‘I’m looking for a particular person or service’ and we can introduce them because we have a unique understanding of the campus, our members and beyond.

When a new company arrives on campus, we guide them through a carefully crafted onboarding process. Newcomers get a series of emails and a welcome brochure, so they have all the information they need. Whenever a company moves, whatever its size, the team all need to know the basics: how to get to the campus, where to park, where they can eat. We support them with that basic information so they can relax and settle into their work.

What I’ve learned from the Biopôle community

Working at Biopôle has taught me a lot about how – and how not – to build a life sciences community. With my background in communications, when I first arrived, I thought communication was key. I envisaged an internal social media platform, where people could share information and connect. But that doesn’t work here. People have their own social media already. They don’t need another platform. Instead, they want practical things; a chance to meet over a beer or to learn in their lunchtime.

Also, I’ve learned that trial and error is a key approach here. You can try to analyse it, but the communities here are so diverse, you don’t know what will work until you try it. We’ve got to try different times, places, activities and see what sticks. And it won’t always work! In 2019, I asked to install a giant chess game on the esplanade – I thought it would be a great place to gather over lunch. But no one ever played that game and, believe me, my team makes great fun of me. I hope that by reading this, someone might want to play – I haven’t lost hope!

Most importantly I have learned, contrary to what we thought at the beginning, that a community manager is essential at any stage of a community. You cannot ‘build’ a community and, once you are satisfied, let it go. A community is the sum of the interactions between people: it’s alive and requires constant work to keep it nurtured.

One of the monthly Afterworks organised on campus in 2022. With each event sponsored by a different resident company, the Afterworks allow the community to meet over a drink in a relaxed environment at the end of the day.