Severin Schwan | Innoscape Talk #1

July 2021 by the CIEB team

Innovations in the Swiss Pharma Industry

Is Switzerland losing its position among the world’s leading locations for R&D?

Our first Innoscape Talk is dedicated to the topic of innovation in the Swiss pharmaceutical industry. Severin Schwan (CEO Roche) explains his views about the current developments in the Swiss life sciences sector and shares his experiences on how to accelerate innovation within a corporation.


Content of the Interview

00:00 Intro
00:24 How can a corporation enhance innovation activity?
02:04 Does the approach to innovation vary between different R&D locations of Roche?
05:38 What are the strengths of Switzerland as a location for R&D?
07:09 How and why does Roche collaborate with academia?
08:09 What challenges does Switzerland face as a location for R&D?
12:29 What are the consequences of a sluggish digitalization in the Swiss Health Sector?
15:22 What can Switzerland learn from the USA in terms of digitalization in the Health Sector?
18:14 What policies should the Swiss government pursue to promote innovation?
20:41 How did Covid-19 change the pharmaceutical industry?
24:32 Outro

Interview: Rof Weder
Question Script: Dragan Filimonovic, Matthias Niggli, Christian Rutzer, Till Schmidlin & Rolf Weder
Production: Bald Wolf Studio
Edited: AVIATICFILMS

Disclaimer: The Innoscape Talk series exclusively conveys the opinion of its interviewed experts. It is not intended to represent the position or opinion of the University of Basel or the CIEB. Nor is it the official position of any staff.

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