In December 2024, Biopôle turned 20! In the lead-up to this milestone, we caught up with the CEO of Biopôle SA, Nasri Nahas, and the Chair of the Board of Directors, Nouria Hernandez, to discuss the community Biopôle has built over the past two decades and what the future might hold.

What do you see as Biopôle’s biggest achievements in the past 20 years? 

Nouria: I’ll kick us off! There are so many achievements to list. One of them is the fulfilment of our central mission: the establishment of an innovation park that actually has the characteristics of a campus – in other words, a place that generates interactions and collaborations between people from different horizons, companies, academic institutions and Biopôle SA too.

What’s more, we’ve established various programmes for early-stage ventures and projects that have really thrived. I recently learned from Nasri that out of the 50 start-ups we’ve hosted in StartLab since it opened, 80% are still in operation – that feels like a big win.

Nasri: I agree – the way we accompany our companies from inception to launch and beyond is one of our biggest strengths. In fact, for the past couple of years, we’ve had barely any companies leave Biopôle due to needing more space or support. Our members are able to grow with us: HAYA Therapeutics is a key example, as a company that started at StartLab, then moved to Superlab, then to its own facilities and just closed a US$1bn deal in September 2024.

And this also speaks to the community we have built over the years: it’s about much more than just the buildings and infrastructure on our campus. Biopôle has really become an ecosystem of which I’m very proud. In our latest members survey, more than 60% of respondents told us that they regularly collaborate with someone on campus who is outside their own company or research institution, which just proves how integrated everyone is. In part, I believe that’s because we’ve reached critical mass, with 170 companies, 25 research groups and 2,500 people on campus – it’s a wonderful pool of talent and expertise.

That’s certainly an impressive list of achievements! Looking ahead, what do you think Biopôle’s role will be over the next 20 years? 

Nasri: Given how quickly technology is evolving today, it’s impossible to make clear predictions; we don’t have a crystal ball (who could have predicted five years ago that AI would have transformed the field in the way it has?). Still, I have aspirations for Biopôle and a vision of the path I’d like us to take over the next 20 years. First, besides continuing to build and consolidate, I would love to see Biopôle as an ecosystem and Biopôle SA as a company help our industry be more sustainable. After all, financial capital is not the only metric of success – we must also take care of three other major types of capital: people, nature and society. I hope to position Biopôle at the forefront of this, helping our members and partners drive towards more sustainable solutions.

In addition, as a CEO and as a citizen, I want to see Biopôle contribute to improving our healthcare system, not only in terms of sustainability, but also in terms of integration, as we (hopefully) move away from silos towards a model that cares more than cures and above all centres on patients. This will take innovation, but also a change in mindset. I think Biopôle and its companies can play a role there. Voilà.

On this topic, what are the most pressing issues facing life sciences today? And what is Biopôle doing to tackle them and/or harness new opportunities? 

Nouria: There are quite a few issues facing life sciences – but they’re the same ones facing society as a whole. In my eyes, the biggest ones include: data protection, as R&D is more dependent than ever on data, and we need to put in place the right tools that protect it while simultaneously encouraging sharing; regulation, as we’re yet to modify and adapt legal frameworks at the same speed as new developments, and each development poses new ethical questions; sustainability, and how to reconcile it with growth and innovation, as Nasri already mentioned – for example, data processing and AI are amazing ways to advance research but they consume a lot of energy; environmental degradation and the healthcare outcomes associated with it; and finally the risk of further global epidemics in a world where global leaders’ ability to cooperate on the international stage hangs in the balance.

In addition, to bring the focus back to Switzerland specifically, our healthcare system is creaking at the seams; we need to ensure that hospitals are collaborating effectively to reduce costs, while also maintaining some competitive spirit in the name of advancing research. Then, I would also love to see the therapeutic solutions that are developed in Switzerland rolled out to developing countries; I think this is a challenge we actively need to address in the Swiss life sciences market.

Nasri: I’m glad Nouria closed on the word ‘challenge’ rather than issue – I prefer to put a more positive spin on things. By all means, there are obstacles to overcome, but this is also an opportunity for us to come together and find solutions.

So, I think Nouria has covered most of the big ‘challenges’ – I just wanted to elaborate a bit more on AI, at what feels like a timely moment, as we just announced that the SDSC will be moving to Biopôle. By all means, the power of AI is nothing to be afraid of; rather, I’m much more afraid of natural stupidity, of the human beings who will be using this game-changing technology, possibly in a reckless or uncritical way. If we don’t teach people how to make use of this powerful tool correctly, it could be immensely dangerous. Thus, putting aside the tremendous opportunities that AI offers to our industry, it will be a major challenge for us to see how we can help our members and partners harness AI effectively to generate useful data and solutions that do good. In this (and in general), we at Biopôle must constantly ask the right questions to answer the right problems. Above all, I believe our mission hinges on the following question: ‘How do we best support the people who work here so that they can benefit wider society?’ We’re able to accomplish this, I believe, by constantly listening to and connecting with our members. This allows us not just to react, but to anticipate their needs – for example, by bringing more shared lab space to campus in the form of StartLab and then the Digital Health Hub (DH²). The arrival of SDSC is just one example, among many, of this: we know our members will be facing challenges with data management and protection moving forwards, so we’re partnering with an organisation that can help. It’s this sort of anticipation and adaptation that sets us apart.

Building on this, can you talk in a bit more detail about how Biopôle supports companies and research institutions in the ever-evolving life sciences market – and how this support might shift over time? Are there any other new initiatives you’d like to bring to campus? 

Nouria: First of all, Biopôle’s team makes a tremendous effort to meet with every single CEO on campus as frequently as possible. So when we talk about the community and open lines of communication, it’s not an imaginary situation: Biopôle’s team actively seeks to know exactly what challenges each company is facing and then help address them.

In addition to this, I must say that, as an organisation, we have been set up in such a way as to enable us to be reactive to changing needs and circumstances. Unlike many other campuses, we’re not solely linked to public authorities, so we can be very agile and very flexible in deciding where to put our resources – and I can honestly say that we’re always trying to keep our members’ best interests at heart as we conceive of and implement new initiatives.

Nasri: Exactly. We’re always thinking about the next steps that will benefit everyone at Biopôle. I can’t say too much at this point, but we’re already discussing what the next space beyond StartLab and Superlab might be – serving, for example, rapidly growing companies that need more space but can’t commit to long-term leases. We’re in the process of developing a new solution with our partners.

In addition, I’ve been delighted to see how the Biopôle Start-up Fund has shifted from being a grant to a real pre-seed programme that can make a big impact on a young company’s journey: not only does it help financially, but we also provide tailored advice about market analysis, positioning and more. I certainly want to continue developing this as a flagship programme that allows us to get more actively involved in the market and shift the dial in the right direction.

How do you think the life sciences market will change in the medium to long term? What would you like to see being prioritised in terms of R&D? 

Nouria: In my opinion, digital health will be a major theme over the next few years – I don’t think it’s reached its full potential yet. I suspect that, in a few years, every patient with a chronic disease will have 24/7 help through smartphones and the like – which will be much more efficient than the applications we have now. In addition, I believe – and hope – there will be further developments in precision medicine, in part thanks to the increase in available patient data. With this, we’ll have many more drugs that are tailored to specific subsets of the population, meaning more drugs overall but a smaller market for each drug. Finally, I fear we’ll see a rise in infectious diseases, which may or may not be resistant to antibiotics. But to end on a more optimistic note, we’ve learned via the COVID-19 pandemic that we can develop vaccines very quickly, so I think we’ll see an influx of vaccines, as well as diagnostics becoming easier thanks to ‘omics’ methods, such as RNA sequencing and proteomics.

Nasri: To be frank, looking further into the future (not just five years or so, but 20 years), we need to make some major changes, because we’re likely to face some big health challenges. For one thing, the health economy as it stands is creating a two-tier healthcare system, even in rich countries like ours. Health systems all over the globe are no longer economically sustainable, especially when you look at how many nations have ageing populations: we need to start talking about how to finance health (rather than care), which is a paradigm shift, but we need to make it happen.

Meanwhile, I think and hope that increased public awareness of health will support a move towards prevention and preventative medicine. For example, more and more people are starting to learn about ‘healthspan’, rather than ‘lifespan’, and therefore make healthier lifestyle choices. In this landscape, healthcare should become more holistic and citizen-driven (not just patient-driven). That’s what I hope the future will hold.

How do research institutions and industry players fit together in Biopôle’s plans – how will the campus continue to foster close relationships between academia and industry? 

Nouria: In short, we want to continue fostering collaboration between academics and industry stakeholders in order to advance innovation. To state a relatively simple point, I think it really helps that different institutions and companies are all in close proximity to each other on our site. In the age of remote working and Zoom, we obviously can make connections with people who aren’t based geographically close to us, but I think there’s a lot to be said for having local partners. And Biopôle represents a central hub that brings people together, putting them in contact with each other and providing opportunities for them to share their work in different fields with interested parties. We just need to build on this further.

Nasri: Indeed, just to contextualise the figure I cited earlier: in our annual survey, 60% of our members stated that they collaborate with someone on campus who is outside their organisation, but a third of these respondents (so around 20% of our members) communicated that they collaborate with someone working in academia or research. This is obviously fantastic.

Moreover, our team does a lot to build close ties with talented students and graduates from local universities, like UNIL and EPFL. We run an annual Biopôle Discovery Day, which gets bigger and bigger every year – I think we’re expecting over 300 participants this year. Really, we do everything we can to ensure that life sciences academics also know about opportunities happening on the other side of the fence (i.e. industry) in life sciences (especially given that this fence is not so high, geographically and thematically speaking, as Nouria was saying).

This all sounds fantastic – it’s heartening to hear that initiatives like Biopôle Discovery Day get bigger each year. Finally, let’s talk a bit more about sustainability: of course, we want Biopôle to grow, but how will you ensure that the campus grows sustainably over the next few years? What are your goals in this area? 

Nasri: We all agree that this is a major priority for Biopôle SA moving forwards. We want to set ourselves really quantifiable goals – otherwise, it’s easy to lapse into greenwashing. With this in mind, we’ve done a materiality assessment and measured our carbon footprint to develop a clear action plan.

One of our central objectives is to reduce our emissions by 25% by 2030. A lot of smaller measures go into this bigger goal, including increasing use of public transport to campus and making our buildings more energy efficient. But we always try to keep the big picture in mind – and also consistently communicate to our members and partners why we’re doing what we’re doing.

Leading on from this, we’re also looking beyond our own emissions to how we can help other people, including our members, reduce theirs. In this vein, we’re devoting quite a lot of effort to carbon offsetting, for example by planting trees on campus – we’ve planted 65 trees in the past two years and we want to plant another 22 next year. Of course, these aren’t huge forests that will absorb all the CO₂ on the planet. But it’s only by taking small, measurable steps that we make progress and contribute to the global sustainability drive.

What’s more, ESG [environmental, social and governance] is not just about gas emissions; it also includes a human aspect. So, we’re doing quite a lot to improve gender equality at Biopôle and make sure all our members feel comfortable at work, no matter their background or circumstances. There’s still progress to be made on this front – but we’re working on it!

Nouria: I just want to add one final point. Of course, Biopôle can put in place sustainable measures for its own community – but it also has a huge network: we are, after all, one of the biggest life sciences campuses in Europe. I believe we can extend this ESG work by talking to our companies, partners and associates about sustainability and equality, and maybe even encouraging them to implement similar policies.

In essence, we want to be a beacon, a leading light in Switzerland and in Europe, encouraging others to follow suit. I think we must leverage our power for good!