INDUSTRY NEWS
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France’s Alsace region has a remarkable number of resources for the med-tech industry, from an innovative university hospital that recently pioneered incision-free surgery to a world-class infrastructure and proximity to technological expertise in neighbouring Switzerland and Germany. What it did not have, until now, was an easy way to tap into those resources. The creation of Alsace Biovalley (ABV) at the beginning of this year is designed to remedy that.
“Why knock on seven doors, when you can knock on one and get everything you need?” asks Nicolas Carboni, general manager of l’Association pour le Développement de la Filière Sciences de la Vie & Santé en Alsace, which coordinates ABV. The cluster brings together under one umbrella regional life science and healthcare research organizations and associated industries.
Medical research, healthcare, biotechnology, and pharmaceuticals are the target sectors within ABV. Medical technology gets a large share of the attention though, notes Carboni, with telemedicine and surgical robotics representing core areas of expertise. That is partly a result of the work done by professor Jacques Marescaux and his team at IRCAD, within the University Hospital of Strasbourg. In April 2007, he oversaw the first incision-free removal of a gallbladder in a human. Dubbed Operation Anubis, the procedure involved the use of a flexible endoscope to remove the gallbladder via the vaginal canal.
It’s not surprising then that Alsace was designated, along with Paris and the Lyon region, one of three life-science clusters in France under the aegis of the national pôles de compétitivité (industrial cluster) programme. What ABV adds to the programme’s various incentives to attract med-tech firms and suppliers to the region, notes Carboni, is a streamlined exchange mechanism for potential business partners. “It’s the establishment of a shared strategy [among numerous relevant regional organizations]. We want to bring coherence and synergy to the regional marketplace” says Carboni. “You don’t have to deal with three or four people to get what you want; you come straight to us.” ABV is a full-service, non-for-profit organization, he stresses, working with medical device OEMs that want to set up operations in the region as well as companies sourcing suppliers in the area and even beyond.
Carboni cites one recent project as an example of how companies can benefit from ABV’s capabilities coupled with the wide-ranging regional resources. “A company that came to us looking for venture capital and a facility had one product ready to market, another at the preclinical stage, and a third one in early stages of development,” says Carboni. “We set them up with everything they needed, including a qualified staff, in record time. That is what ABV is all about: fitting together all the puzzle pieces and providing a coherent response when companies seek our assistance.”
For more information, contact Alsace Biovalley, Parc d’Innovation, boulevard Gonthier d’Andernach, 67400 Illkirch, France; phone: + 33 390 403000; fax: + 33 390 403001; e-mail: admin@alsace-biovalley.com [5]; Internet: www.alsace-biovalley.com [6].