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swissnex Boston is active on Facebook! Check ou our new series of photos shot during the swissnex Cafe

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Is “licensing and development” a new business model for the pharmaceutical industry: Discussion with Debiopharm

In the pharmaceutical industry, everyone knows how long it takes to bring a new molecule to the market after its discovery. To accelerate this process, some companies have decided to focus their business model on the in-licensing of promising molecules to further develop them before licensing them out for commercialization. Lausanne-headquartered biopharmaceutical group, Debiopharm has built its success around this very specific model. On the occasion of a visit to the Boston area to consolidate some business partnerships, CSO Andres McAllister explained to a pool of local executives of early-stage pharmaceutical companies and tech transfer experts the comparative advantages of a development-based model, especially in oncology. According to Dr. McAllister, the added value for biotech companies or Universities of partnering are the acceleration in the development of their flagship molecules while mitigating the risks and maximizing the opportunity to register a drug or to monetize their discoveries. Business Development & Licensing Director David Deperthes also stressed the importance of a systematic screening and evaluation process before licensing-in to insure a higher rate of success after development. More info about Debiopharm Group’s business model HERE By the way, it was great to reconnect with David Deperthes, participant in the Venture Leaders Bootcamp 2002 who decided to join Debiopharm after a successful entrepreneurial career in Biotech.

[swissnexboston]

Consulate café draws a crowd

It happened again on Feb 29th, from 8 AM-8 PM: 87 Nespresso Capsules, 52 Kagi-Fret chocolate bars, 2 gallons of milk, 5 quiches, 70 “customers” and countless conversations... Little over 6 months had passed since the last swissnex café and with the winter behind us, we felt it was time to open our Swiss house again to engage people around some cups of coffee. We like to talk, but, above all, we like to listen to what you have to say! That’s where this all idea of having swissnex as open as possible came in! Let us know what you thought, tell us what to you want to see and experience for the next swissnex café! Don’t hesitate to share your feedback with Sophie, swissnex Café Manager. Stay tuned for the next swissnex Café on April 17th!

[swissnexboston]

2012 New England Francophonie Celebrations

Networking breakfast of the French-speaking scientific community: “Why should I join a startup?” the opinion of an open-source Venture Capitalist As part of the annual celebrations of the Francophonie in New England, swissnex Boston and the partners of “Le Café des Sciences” were thrilled to engage in a discussion with Fred Destin, venture capitalist at Atlas Venture and active blogger on new trends in entrepreneurship. As the special guest of the networking breakfast for the French-speaking, scientific community of the Boston area, Fred Destin presented his vision of the start-up in today’s economy, which should be understood as a “world of chaotic complexity”.The start-up – in spite of the high probability of failure – is a perfect business model to deal with this chaotic environment, which requires rethinking of the traditional boundaries of a firm. In a behavioral approach, Fred Destin also describes entrepreneurship as a way to get to a level of self-development impossible to reach in a big corporation where motivation is based on incentive and not on inspiration. In other words, start-ups are a firm model, which provide an impact while fulfilling a purpose… or when uncertainty is a factor, fun and self-accomplishment! A networking breakfast organized around the topic of entrepreneurship was a unique occasion to ask the Francophile science-oriented institutions of the Boston area to pitch their activities. Watch the video below to get an overview of the services they provide (Office of S&T of the Consulate General of France, YEI, FACCNE & FACCNE YP, Quebec Government, , MIT France, swissnex Boston, Hubtech 21) Francophone world presented to high-school students swissnex also partnered with the Consulate General of France to enhance French curriculum in the high schools of the Boston area. Two morning events gathered around 600 students and their French teachers at the Boston Public Library around one clear objective: having fun while learning more about French-speaking regions of the world. The students were asked to fill out a quiz before enjoying short humorous films from Quebec, Switzerland and France.The events also aimed at showcasing study opportunities for American students in Francophone countries. swissnex Boston and the Consulate General of France want to warmly thank Swiss Learning, the Association of Swiss Boarding Schools for supporting the event by generously providing a set of great prizes for the winners of the quiz. Screening of the Swiss Film: “La Petite Chambre” Continuing the celebration of New England Francophonie Month, The Brattle Theatre, swissnex Boston and the Cultural Section of the Federal Department of Foreign Affairs sponsored a film screening of La Petite Chambre. Winner of the Swiss Film Prize Quartz for "Best Fiction Film" 2011 and "Best Screenplay" 2011, the Swiss film drew an audience of 80+ to The Brattle Theatre in Cambridge, MA. A heartwarming story of two characters struggling to put the past behind them, but find the comfort and support in each other to make the best of the future. The film screening marked La Petite Chambre’s first exhibition in the Boston-Cambridge area. Swissnex Boston would like to thank The Brattle Theatre and the Cultural Section of the Federal Department of Foreign Affairs for partaking in the Francophonie Celebrations and empowering the French-speaking atmosphere throughout the month. Voyages en Francophonie with EFGB We were delighted to join colleagues from the Quebec Delegation and Consulate of France to support this first annual event organized by Education Francaise of Greater Boston (efgb). More than 600 participants including many bilingual kids and families visited the numerous country booths (with beautiful decorations from Senegal to Maroc and Algeria), got information on educational opportunities, tasted a variety of delicious food and enjoyed entertainment from dancers, a cartoonist and a world music band. The Swiss booth featured food from the swissbakers, a personalized service by EPFL students, many brochures on educational opportunities (thanks to Swiss Learning for the support!) and the possibility to virtually test your skiing skills!

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Art meets Science through “Connectomes”

The MIT Alumni Association and swissnex Boston, in collaboration with the MIT Club of Boston and ETH New England Chapter, sponsored an event that took us into the inner workings of the brain as illuminated in the recently published book by MIT Professor Sebastian Seung, Connectome: How the Way We are Wired Makes Us Who We Are. Joining him was Swiss scientist Benjamin Bollmann who has created striking photographic images of the brain’s neural networks. What emerged from their presentations was not only the stunning complexity of the task of mapping out the connectome but the beauty of the mind’s substrate as captured in Benjamin’s images. This event marked the first time that the MIT Alumni Association and swissnex Boston pooled their resources, and it proved to be a natural fit for the sister institutions of MIT and ETH. It was held in the Broad Institute auditorium to a completely sold out crowd of over 250 attendees. The program began with a lecture and was followed by food and wine in the lobby. There were many lively conversations going on and when the program ended at 9:00 pm the lobby was still buzzing as many people continued their discussions. To learn more about Sebastian and his work we invite you to watch his TED Talk and to visit http://connectomethebook.com/ and to see some of Benjamin’s photos and to listen to the sound of a neuron visit: http://connectomethebook.com/?page_id=58#all

[swissnexboston]

SwissLink Fondue Night

Last Thursday, March 29th, SwissLink Boston has gathered once again the Swiss community at our office for an evening marked by one of the most well-known Swiss food-specialties, the Fondue. In case you are wondering what it is, think cheese, lots and lots of melted cheese. It is very similar to the Chocolate Fondue, just replace the communal pot with a “Caquelon”, the chocolate with cheese the fruits with bread and add white wine or peppermint tea. Over 50 people have joined us for the Swisslink Fondue Night. Helvetiq, through Hadi Barkat, helped us not to eat too much cheese at once and entertained the pauses with their game on the Swiss general culture, Cantuun. The winner of the game was the Swiss Parliament member Mr. Andrea Caroni.

The closing hour was pushed to later than 11PM, when the last Fondue fans left, showing that it was a very successful event.

[swissnexboston]

Lausanne to Boston: a study abroad blog

Explore swissnex Boston's project with EPFL! Lausanne to Boston: Meet Arnaud LausanneToBoston.com is a student blog by students coming from EPFL (Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne) in Lausanne, Switzerland to study in Boston, USA for a semester or more. It's a place to share our experiences with friends and family but also for any other students coming to Boston for the first time. You should expect to find personal stories as well as exciting science, we will take you into our labs and show you what we do. It's mostly bio-engineering, tinkering with the stuff of life, and this includes everything from material science to computer programing

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Connecting ConnectUS to the Innovative city of Boston.

On April 4th and 5th, swissnex Boston had the pleasure of introducing ConnectUS to the innovations of Boston. 21 students and faculty from the University of Applied Sciences Northwestern Switzerland joined us in touring MIT, Harvard Graduate School of Design, CIC and many more. During these two days, we all watched the students’ eyes light up with joy and amazement at the historic city of Boston’s innovations. With the help of people, like Christina Inge(VP of Social Media for the American Marketing Association), Imran Nassrulam (Head Strategic Alliances, T1D First), James Broglio(MIT Alumni Network Director) , Christoph Dumelin(Post Doc) , Aron Blasli (MIT PhD candidate), and Daia Stutz (MA candidate), these two days were a learning experience for all of us. The Cambridge Innovation Center (CIC), showed the students how helpful the community of Cambridge is when it comes to startup companies. Seeing a startup by the name of Ginger.io emphasized to the students just how important hard work, passion and dedication is when it comes to starting your own company. After a snack break or two, we learned about how important it is to use social networking platforms correctly, and what the innovations in the local health care sector have to offer America. Even though we only had two days to show the students just how important networking and innovating is to the Boston area, connecting them to events like the Venture Café certainly helped to paint the picture.