04.06.2018

BioAlps appoints Wyss Center CTO as President

Wyss Center
Final Groups Crop
Wyss Center Leadership Team (from left) Tracy Laabs, Claude Clément, John Donoghue and Benoît Dubuis

Claude Clément joins Swiss life sciences cluster as President, taking over from Benoît Dubuis

Wyss Center Chief Technology Officer, Claude Clément, has been appointed President of the BioAlps Association, the life sciences cluster for Western Switzerland. Mr. Clément takes over the prestigious title from Benoît Dubuis, Wyss Center Development Director, who has held the position for the past ten years.

The BioAlps Association represents organizations involved in biotechnology and medical technology in Western Switzerland including research centers, academic institutions, start-up companies and multinationals. The association organizes events, provides networking opportunities and produces publications for the life science community.

Claude Clément said: “I am honored to follow in the tracks of Benoît Dubuis, who has put BioAlps at the forefront for so many years. Drawing on my experience in medical devices, I believe there is scope to further develop the medtech emphasis of the organization as well as anticipate and focus on the rapid evolution of new technologies, big data, artificial intelligence and other disruptive trends, which are transforming the health industry and economics.

“In Western Switzerland we are tremendously fortunate to benefit not only from a strong industrial network but also leading clinical centers and world class research organizations. I believe that by building on the strong foundations laid by Benoît Dubuis during his decade of commitment to this valuable community, we can continue to go from strength to strength, positioning BioAlps as the leading health cluster by offering support, sharing knowledge and assisting in the biotech and medtech journey from bench to market.”

Claude Clément joined the Wyss Center as CTO in early 2015. He leads the engineering teams and oversees development of implantable neurotechnology devices for clinical applications.

He has been founder, chairman or board member of several start-ups and small businesses. He holds a Masters in Electrical and Electronic Engineering from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (EPFL) in Lausanne and an MBA from HEC at the University of Lausanne (Switzerland).

Claude started in R&D for the watch industry (Swatch Group) as head of the transducers and actuators development group. He entered the world of medical technologies by heading the diversification activities of Swatch in the field of wearable programmable drug delivery pumps.

He then spent 23 years in the field of active implantable medical devices, as Director of Manufacturing Engineering at Intermedics (now Boston Scientific), as Plant Manager of the Swiss operations of Medtronic where he put in place and ramped-up the Medtronic factory in the Lake Geneva area. The plant is the world’s largest site for the assembly of active implantable medical devices, producing more than 2,000 pacemakers, defibrillators and neuro-stimulators per day. He later worked as a consultant for major companies, mainly in the field of pacemakers and for various innovative start-ups.

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