CASE BioMed: an example of Ticino excellence in Zurich

In June, the Centre of Advanced Studies on Entrepreneurship in BioMedicine (CASE BioMed) of Università della Svizzera italiana (USI) signed an agreement with the Wyss Zurich Translational Center. Heidrun Flaadt, Founder and Director of CASE BioMed, summarised the initial months of this fruitful collaboration in an article published by LaRegione.

The two institutes have formalised their collaboration by signing a Memorandum of Understanding, committing to work together on entrepreneurial training programs in the life sciences sector. "Through this collaboration, central Swiss institutions have acknowledged that the programmes offered in Ticino are of such high quality and competitiveness that they represent a privileged opportunity for the high-level training of their young talent," commented Heidrun Flaadt.

The idea of establishing a long-term collaboration with Wyss Zurich emerged in response to requests from participants in CASE BioMed, which has been running since 2010. At that time, it was the first entrepreneurship programme in the life sciences sector offered by a Swiss university, as noted by its founder: "We focused on developing initiatives that did not exist in other Swiss universities and that were therefore complementary to the programmes offered. This pioneering project, supported from the beginning by the Commission for Technology and Innovation and Innosuisse, is unique in that 90% of the students come from other Swiss universities, such as those in Basel, Bern, Geneva, Zurich, and Lausanne. Additionally, 60% of the participants in these programmes are connected to the Zurich metropolitan area, including institutions like the Federal Institute of Technology, BioTech Park di Schlieren, or indeed Wyss Zurich".

The aim now is to develop new training programmes, complementary to the existing ones, offered jointly by the two institutions: "The aim is to create a north-south academic axis in the field of entrepreneurship training in the life sciences sector, which promotes cooperation between institutions while also acknowledging the pioneering work carried out by USI in this sector. The objective is to create a national and international inter-institutional network that equips students from these universities with training for a new and additional professional path in academic entrepreneurship. In addition, the creation of new companies, startups or spin-offs by programme participants should promote the development of biomedical innovations and further strengthen Switzerland's innovative strength. Naturally, this synergistic approach with institutions in northern Switzerland also aims to achieve the objectives efficiently and cost-effectively." The collaboration with Wyss Zurich also seeks to promote CASE BioMed courses, as the Zurich institute intends to send students and young entrepreneurs to the training courses offered at USI.

The initiative, therefore, offers our canton the opportunity to become part of a lively and international context, as Heidrun Flaadt explains: "Thanks to this collaboration, Ticino can access a vibrant ecosystem of startups located near two prestigious institutions: the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology and the University of Zurich: a configuration that unfortunately does not yet exist in this form in our canton. Students from these institutions who enrol in our programmes are promising young talents who enhance the quality and reputation of our offerings. Additionally, the enrolment fees they pay help fund these training programmes."

Heidrun Flaadt emphasises that securing funding for the collaboration and its projects is currently one of the main challenges. It is important to note that CASE BioMed is entirely financed through third-party funds. On the other hand, as the Director of CASE BioMed emphasises, "recent news of significant cuts in public funding for education and research at the university level could also have a negative impact on this collaboration."

The full interview with Heidrun Flaadt is available at the following link.