Alsace BioValley is a world-class competitiveness cluster that supports businesses and laboratories in the health, life sciences and biotechnology sectors looking to create, grow or locate in the Alsace region. The cluster is situated in Alsace and belongs to the trinational BioValley cluster, which was founded in 1996 by the regions of the Upper Rhine, namely Alsace in France, Baden-Württemberg in Germany and the Basel area in Switzerland. It brings together all companies, research organisations, hospitals and universities working in the field of health and life sciences. Having received the official “world-class track” label, the Alsace BioValley competitiveness cluster is financed by the EU, French national and local governments, as well as private partners.
Alsace BioValley’s efforts are concentrated on therapeutic innovations, particularly in two promising sectors:
- Drug discovery (platform for neuronal modelling, technologies for screening and profiling drug candidates, protein crystallography, myocardial regeneration by reinjection of stem cells, diagnostics development for the infection caused by the Epstein-Barr virus, development of therapies against liver malfunctions, development of antithrombotic and antitumorous agents, etc.);
- New medical, surgical and robotics technologies (transluminal surgery, telemedicine and home care, virtual and augmented reality, innovative dental implants, safety and drug traceability in hospitals, bioproduction follow-up in eukaryotic systems, infrared spectrometry and clinical imaging).
As a cluster, Alsace BioValley focuses resources devoted to life sciences and medical technology around companies such as Sanofi Aventis, Transgene, NovAliX or ImmuPharma, and also around academic organisations such as IGBMC (Institute for Genetics, Molecular and Cellular Biology), the Graduate School for Biotechnology in Strasbourg, CNRS, INRA, the University Hospitals in Strasbourg, ICS (Mouse Clinical Institute), INSERM or the Mulhouse National School of Chemistry.
Furthermore, the cluster carries out activities in order to:
- Increase the competitiveness of the Alsatian players in the life sciences and health sector, for example by providing specialized services (assistance in setting up innovative projects, sales representation in international fairs, search for partners or technologies, legal assistance in establishing a business...);
- Build a local scientific environment suitable for therapeutic innovation (support to the development of large research infrastructures, creation of services platforms, implementation of training schemes...);
- Put Alsace and its regional actors at the leading edge for therapeutic innovation, especially by developing partnerships with other worldwide health clusters, or by establishing missions for the exploration of new markets.