PariSanté Campus is being created in line with the wish of French President of the Republic Emmanuel Macron to “make France a world leader in the digital healthcare sector”. Thus, in December, the first 15,000 m2 building of the Campus located in the southwest of Paris, will bring together researchers, caregivers, entrepreneurs, students and institutions working for digital innovation in the healthcare sector. The site is ideal, being close to major groups and pharmaceutical laboratories, research universities in the Ile-de-France region, the Georges Pompidou European Hospital and major Parisian incubators involved in the sector.
“The aim is to bring together expertise and to create synergies in order to ensure that PariSanté Campus becomes a centre of research excellence and that top companies emerge capable of developing their partnerships internationally.” Professor Antoine Tesnière, Director of PariSanté Campus.
The aim of this new centre is to stimulate research into and the production and exploitation of health data, to support training in the area of digital health, to develop expertise and promote the development of very high added value applications. “France continues to make steady progress in the digital health rankings, new companies are being created that demonstrate strong momentum and whose inventiveness is widely praised abroad”, said its Director enthusiastically.
Among the first challenges with regard to development, is the need to establish international partnerships, particularly in Europe.
Call for proposals in progress
Since the summer and until the end of October, French start-ups in the health sector are invited to apply to relocate to the Campus. After this initial phase between 20 and 30 companies will be selected.
“Healthcare has always been a central aspect of French innovation, even more so given the Covid crisis. The number of telemedicine consultations has exploded, the use of apps to receive biological test results has become more widespread…. This crisis has increased this dynamic change in healthcare, and the challenge is to be able to generalise the culture of data and digital technology, while guaranteeing that it is adopted and made secure,” said Professor Tesnière.
This French government initiative is supported by prestigious public operators in research, innovation and training (Inserm, Inria, Université Paris Sciences & Lettres) and by two structures of the Ministry of Health (the Digital Health Agency and the Health Data Hub). The new centre is expected to have a budget of around €400 million, from both public and private funds. It will move in 2028 to the former Val-de-Grâce army training hospital in Paris, which is to be renovated as part of this ambitious program.
