Two days of visits organised for an official delegation from the city of Seoul.

On March 10 and 11,  2011, the Paris Region Economic Development Agency (PREDA) staged a regional healthcare tour in partnership with the Medicen Paris Region competitiveness cluster, the city of Paris, and the IAU Ile-de-France (Paris Region urban planning institute).

Two days of visits were organised for an official delegation from the city of Seoul: the director of Seoul Business Agency's Digital Media City, the director of the investment promotion department at Seoul's City Hall, and the director and commercial director of the French Korean Chamber of Commerce and Industry. The tour introduced them to the wealth and diversity of Paris Region's healthcare sector offer, focusing on some of the region's flagship sites: the Institut Pasteur, Sanofi-Aventis and the Institut de la Vision (Vision Institute).

The delegation's first visit was to the Institut Pasteur, in the 15th arrondissement of Paris, on March 10. The Medicen competitiveness cluster also presented its activities and the wider Paris Region biocluster as a whole. After this the delegation visited Sanofi-Aventis' R&D facility in Chilly-Mazarin (91 - Essonne).

On March 11, after meeting representatives of the city of Paris, the Korean delegation was welcomed by Professor Sahel who offered a guided tour of the Institut de la Vision. This introduction to one of Europe's leading integrated research centres for vision disorders showcased the excellence of healthcare research in Paris Region.

To find out more about upcoming regional tours please contact Hélène Tinti or Marie Bahsa.

Profiles of Institut Pasteur, Institut de la Vision and Sanofi-Aventis are available on Econovista.com.

Locate these facilities on the following Paris Region maps:

* Institut Pasteur on Spot talents/Public research centres

* Institut de la Vision on Spot talents/Public research centres

* Sanofi-Aventis on My map/pharmaceutical company

Competitiveness cluster. Medicen, a cluster for innovative therapies and advanced technologies in healthcare

At the heart of the Paris Region, first-ranking economic area in Europe, the cluster Medicen brings together the largest drug and health technologies companies, the strongest concentration of researchers, hospitals and universities in France, and benefits from the commitment the State and regional/counties authorities. It takes advantage of all the assets that a metropolis can provide in terms of financial, real estate and transportation infrastructures.

Initiated in 2005 as a result of the remarkable collaborative dynamism that united businesses, clinicians and academics in their response to the French government's call for proposals, the Medicen Paris Region cluster unites all the key life science and healthcare players in the Paris metropolitan area. Located at the heart of Europe's leading regional economy, the Cluster constitutes the highest concentration of healthcare expertise and resources in Europe.

With strong support from the French State, the Paris Region Regional Council, local authorities and economic development organizations, Medicen Paris Region is determined to reinforce the international competitiveness, visibility and attractiveness of the Paris region in life sciences and make it one of the world's top metropolitan areas for therapeutic innovation.

The cluster uses dynamic collaboration and networking to organize the very numerous regional health players around priority themes, in order to build a true cluster, innovate more effectively and boost the region’s national and international attractiveness. Its location in the Paris Region must be considered as a key success factor in the health care and pharmaceutical technology sectors, whether it be for an innovative start-up, a small business or a major company.

Source : Medicen Paris Region

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Biotechnologies. The potentialities of Paris Region

Paris is a major center for healthcare and the biotechnologies. Very high levels of training, an exceptional concentration of prestigious hospitals and a very dense industrial fabric have established the capital as an essential location for companies in these sectors.
The AP-HP (Public Hospital System of the City of Paris) is Europe’s largest hospital center, the leading center of clinical research in Europe and the leading promoter of clinical trials in France.

Christophe Misse, Head of Clinical Research and Development at the AP-HP, stresses the importance of collaborative working between manufacturers, research bodies and universities. “Working on the basis of service agreements and technical support centers, the AP-HP offers an exceptional package of services for companies developing clinical trials. 28 companies have already been set up on the basis of innovation”.
With its high level of involvement in industrial research, the AP-HP makes an active contribution to the Medicen Paris Region competitiveness cluster.
Many organizations dedicated to innovation have sprung up in recent years. For example, Paris Biotech Santé is a business start-up and growth center, located on the Université Paris Descartes campus. It launches around 10 new projects every year. Paris Biotech Santé has set up a 5,000 m² enterprise center within the Cochin hospital. “It’s a great success”, says Director Olivier Amédée Manesme. “We’ve created 200 jobs in under 18 months, and the companies involved have raised over 120 million!”

The Institut de la Vision is another success on the international scale. Headed by Professor Sahel, the institute is the first European integrated research center totally dedicated to diseases of the eye. This foundation brings together the skills of international researchers, doctors and manufacturers to accelerate the process of discovering and validating curative and preventive treatments for vision-related illnesses.
One of the most ambitious partnerships is the Descartes project, which involves six major partners: Essilor, the Institut de la Vision, Fovea Pharmaceuticals, Visioact, Microled and the CNRS (French National Center for Scientific Research). This low vision research consortium employs around 40 researchers with a total budget of €33 million.

Discover the “Biocluster map” presenting all biotechnology potentiality of Paris Region, on Econovista, the free economic map of Paris Region