Medicen Paris Region has appointed a new chief executive officer in the form of Stéphane Roques, who aims to attract lots more investment into the city.
Roques will implement the cluster’s strategy in order to further bolster Medicen Paris Region‘s strategic goals, which include fostering collaborative projects in the healthcare sector, and attracting more innovative startups and SME to the region.
Paris is certainly France’s most important bioscience hub, as it represents more than 50% of life sciences activity in the country.
Prior to his new role, Roques managed well-known organisations in the field of innovation and health, including secretary general of AFM-Téléthon, and chief executive of MSF – Doctors without Borders.
He also played a lead role in R&D centres of excellence such as the Institute of Myology at Pitié-Salpêtrière and Genethon in Evry. He also chaired the start-up Genosafe and launched the Institute of Biotherapies for Rare Diseases, as well as spending spend six years at management consultants Arthur Andersen.
He has also chaired the start-up Genosafe and launched the Institute of Biotherapies for Rare Diseases. However Roques most high profile role has been working for France’s President Emmanuel Macron as general manager of his En Marche! political movement.
Roques has now stepped away from that role to focus on building up Paris’ life sciences cluster.
Commenting on the appointment, Christian Lajoux, president of Medicen Paris Region, said: “Stéphane will bring a new managerial dimension to the cluster, a wealth of knowledge in the health ecosystem and a pragmatic ambition to further the company development in order to make the Paris region one of the world leaders in health.”
A graduate from Neoma, Stephane Roques has a degree in sociology. He spent six years at Arthur Andersen, working with public organizations and associations. Roques successively managed well-known organizations in the field of innovation and health (secretary general of AFM-Téléthon, CEO of MSF – Doctors without Borders) and R&D centres of excellence such as the Institute of Myology at Pitié-Salpêtrière and Genethon in Evry. He also chaired the start-up Genosafe and launched the Institute of Biotherapies for Rare Diseases. He is also very involved in civil society and participated in the political movement En Marche!.
“I am passionate about innovation and health. I have always been committed to serving the public interest alongside public and private actors, whether they be doctors, researchers, patients, entrepreneurs or investors,” said Stéphane Roques.
“I am convinced that the convergence of their common interests can shape a new world and be a source of economic and societal value. I am proud to join the Medicen team to take up this formidable challenge.”
The Medicen Paris Region organisation is a ‘competitiveness cluster’ for innovative health technologies, and already has more than 400 companies, research centres, universities, hospitals and local authorities as members.
It focuses on five strategic areas: biological diagnostics, diagnostic and interventional imaging, regenerative medicine and biomaterials, digital health and translational medicine. In close collaboration with local, regional and national healthcare innovation players.