"The future belongs to the digital world"
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Like this year’s annual event, this issue of scienceindustries News focuses on digitalisation in the pharmaceutical and chemical industry. The second study by BAK Economics on the competitiveness of the Swiss chemical and pharmaceutical industry compared with other countries shows that there is a need to catch up in this area. Although the chemical and pharmaceutical industry is still one of the world’s best in terms of competitiveness, it is important to take good care of the foundations on which our success rests. The ability to exploit the opportunities provided by digitalisation will become increasingly important for the global competitiveness of research centres.
In addition to the backlog in digitalisation, there is also a host of political risks that threaten the competitiveness of Switzerland as a business location. Three of these risks that are particularly important for our industries will be highlighted here. First and foremost is the initiative to ban animal and human experimentation, which will be put to the vote next February and which would seal Switzerland off from any medical progress. Relations with the EU, our main trading partner are also important. The bilateral agreements are of key importance to our location. Currently, the focus falls on international research cooperation with Horizon Europe. Thirdly, the secure supply of energy at reasonable prices is a central issue for our companies in the chemical, pharmaceutical and life sciences sectors. The following articles show how our industries are dealing with these risks and how they are already driving digitalisation.
I hope you enjoy reading this issue. scienceindustries will, of course, be happy to answer any questions you may have at any time.
Yours sincerely
Stephan Mumenthaler, Director of scienceindustries
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European policy
Stabilising relations with the EU
Following the termination of the negotiations for an institutional framework agreement (InstA) with the EU, it is unclear how bilateral relations with the EU will be continued. Suitable measures are now needed quickly in order to maintain the excellence and competitiveness of Switzerland as a research hub.
Switzerland’s participation in the European framework agreement on research has not yet been secured. There is also a risk of new trade hurdles and negative impacts, for example on the security of supply in the electricity sector. From the point of view of scienceindustries, the failure of the InstA means that rapid measures and a medium- to long-term strategy by the Federal Council to secure the bilateral path are required before the number of proposals (popular initiative, doubling of the cohesion contribution, etc.) becomes too excessive.
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Pharma / health policy
Driving digitalisation in healthcare
The pandemic has shown that the Swiss healthcare system has some catching up to do when it comes to digitalisation. In this respect, Switzerland must catch up internationally and make the available health data generally more usable. This means that the necessary adjustments to the digital infrastructure have to be done speedily.
The benefits of digital information for patients' health are undisputed. Experts can get a faster overview of pre-existing conditions, allergies and medication taken and thus develop a more efficient treatment plan. Expensive duplications can also be avoided, and costs can be saved.
The electronic patient record (EPR) is a first step in this direction, and it is therefore to be welcomed that participation in the EPR will be required for the authorisation of service providers in the future. However, further steps are needed, in particular to promote acceptance among the population of the EPR and digitalisation in the healthcare sector as a whole.
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Approval of plant protection products
Greater efficiency in the approval process is urgently needed
The reorganisation of the approval process for plant protection products is an opportunity to enhance its efficiency. Adopting the EU approval decisions would be factually correct and would reduce the administrative burden for the authorities.
In November 2021, the Federal Council approved the reorganisation of the approval process for plant protection products. scienceindustries also believes that the process in Switzerland has to be urgently improved. An enormous number of applications have been piling up in the approval process, some of them for several years.
Adopting EU approval decisions, introducing binding deadlines for the processing of dossiers and digitalising the authorisation process (e.g. by introducing electronic applications) would be important steps in making the procedure more efficient.
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BIODIVERSITY
Protecting biodiversity and maintaining innovative strength
The Kunming Declaration points to the need for global action to protect biodiversity. The aim of the ongoing negotiations is to establish a global framework for biodiversity. Finding a practical solution for unhindered access to digital sequence information is also important.
Biodiversity is essential for securing humanity’s food resources in the long term and for ensuring the sustainable use of natural resources. At the beginning of 2022, the international community will meet in Geneva to develop measures for the protection and sustainable use of biodiversity as part of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD). Later, a strategic plan for this will be adopted at the 15th Conference of the Parties (COP 15) in Kunming, China.
Financial compensation for the use of digital sequence information from databases (DSI) will also be discussed. However, possible solutions should not impede the current free access to this data as this would have a major negative impact on research and development.
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Referendum on 13 February 2022
“No” to the initiative to ban animal and human experimentation
The initiative is extreme and will lead to a de facto ban on research. Experiments on humans and animals are already being replaced by alternative methods wherever possible. However, in many cases it is absolutely essential to do research on humans and animals.
For a resource-poor country like Switzerland, research and innovation are a central pillar of success and prosperity. Thanks to the excellence of local research, both on the part of academia and industry, Switzerland is now one of the world’s leading research and innovation hubs.
Animal testing is only done if it is imperative for scientific, ethical and regulatory reasons and cannot be replaced by alternative methods. Pharmaceutical companies engaged in research do their best to minimise animal testing and use specific projects to continuously develop their high standards. Here, the focus falls on the 3R principles: refine, reduce, replace.
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SimplyScience Foundation
“SimplyNano” wins Building Award 2021
The SimplyNano project run by the SimplyScience Foundation of scienceindustries wins the Building Award 2021 in the category “Promoting young talent in the field of technology.” The award pays tribute to outstanding engineering achievements in the building sector. Journalist, presenter and former Miss Switzerland Christa Rigozzi hosted the evening.
A high-calibre, independent jury headed by Prof. Dr. Sarah M. Springman, rector and professor at ETH Zurich, chose the winners of the various categories. The SimplyNano project won the category “Promoting young talent in the field of technology.” The award recognises the convincing concept, high-quality didactic content and generous support of numerous companies and foundations.
With SimplyNano, the SimplyScience Foundation aims to awaken young people’s enthusiasm for scientific and technical subjects and inspire enthusiasm for technical careers.
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scienceindustries is the Swiss business association for the chemical, pharmaceutical and life sciences industries. Its around 250 member companies generate more than 98% of their revenues abroad. As Switzerland's biggest export industry, this sector contributes 51.7% to total exports and almost 40% to private research expenses in Switzerland
Stephan Mumenthaler, Director
Marcel Sennhauser, Deputy Director - Head of Communication
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