This year, Biopôle-based companies raised significant funds – CHF 417m, to be precise  – while also hiring some passionate new talents and growing successfully. Among them, ADC Therapeutics raised US$267m through its initial public offering in May. Younger companies have been no less active: StartLab companies raised more than CHF 6m, a clear sign of success for a programme that began only in 2018. In terms of new products, Abionic launched the first COVID-19 severity test for speedy and accurate patient triage and Distalmotion will soon bring its Dexter surgical robot to market.

Meanwhile, Biopôle SA is constantly evolving: following the recent completion of the Serine Building, we began construction work on the Leucine Building in collaboration with CPEV, the canton of Vaud’s pension fund. In September, Nouria Hernandez, Rector of the University of Lausanne, became the new Chair of the Board of Directors of Biopôle SA. And in December, Biopôle SA announced a new corporate partnership with CSL Behring.

Many of our companies are continuously growing. More than 2,000 people currently work at Biopôle, and that number is expected to rise to 5,000 by 2025. This year, 11 companies joined us.

More than 90 life sciences companies are currently hosted on our campus, from start-ups to multinationals, together with more than 25 research groups. They make our community an example of interdisciplinarity and diversity: 70% of our members collaborate with each other on research projects.