Foundation of Health Valley recognized with award

BioAlps, the Swiss life sciences cluster, has awarded an academy and an industry prize in honor of outstanding commitments to biotechnology and medical technology in Western Switzerland. The awards, presented respectively to Benoît Dubuis, Wyss Center Development Director and to Medtronic Europe at the annual BioAlps Networking Day at the Swiss Integrative Center for Human Health (SICHH) on Thursday 29 November, were in recognition of their impact in the establishment of the Health Valley. Their work on developing collaborations and enabling translation of ideas between academia and industry in the region was highlighted by BioAlps as key to the survival of an efficient ecosystem.

The BioAlps Award honors a personality and an enterprise from the life sciences sector without whom western Switzerland would not have acquired its international reputation in this field.

Benoît Dubuis has over 30 years of international experience in life sciences, both in industry and in the academic world. Following his engineering degree, his doctorate from ETH Zurich and academic activity in Cambridge and Cranfield in England, he held various management positions in pharmaceutical companies (Chemap, Ciba-Geigy / Novartis, Lonza), before joining the Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) where he founded the Faculty of Life Sciences, and became its first dean.

In 2004, he co-founded Eclosion, the first incubator and start-up fund in Switzerland in the field of life sciences. He has also founded various companies including Excellgene, GenKyoTex and GeNeuro.

In June 2013, he was appointed Director of the Fondation Campus Biotech Genève and Development Director of the Wyss Center.