science

Health Valley

Health Valley is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Health Valley rather than just read about it. In short: The Health Valley covers the Western Switzerland region, where the life sciences sector extends from Geneva to Bern, including the seven cantons of Bern, Fribourg, Geneva, Jura, Neuchâtel, Valais, and Vaud. This cluster presents a critical mass of 1,900 companies, research centers, and innovation support structures, now representing more than 40,000 employees.

Key takeaways

Health Valley belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Health Valley to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Health Valley from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

The Health Valley covers the Western Switzerland region, where the life sciences sector extends from Geneva to Bern, including the seven cantons of Bern, Fribourg, Geneva, Jura, Neuchâtel, Valais, and Vaud. This cluster presents a critical mass of 1,900 companies, research centers, and innovation support structures, now representing more than 40,000 employees. The Health Valley strives to animate the life sciences ecosystem of the region by establishing thriving bridges between its ambassadors. The name of the Health Valley is inspired by that of Silicon Valley in California, United States (where the focus is on information technology). According to the Swiss newspaper Le Temps, there were nearly 1,000 biotech and medtech companies in the Health Valley in 2017, employing 25,000 people. The Health Valley network is led by BioAlps, an association funded by the 7 cantons of Western Switzerland and 17 academic members such as EPFL, UNIL, UNINE, UNIGE, HES-SO, HEIG-VD, HEPIA, UNIFR, CHUV, HUG, CSEM, SIB. Its mission is to represent the whole ecosystem and to foster synergies between all the actors. A digital interactive map, a project led in 2016 by the Fondation Inartis, of the regional actors is located at healthvalley.ch. According to a Swiss journalist, the idea of a Health Valley was actively supported by Patrick Aebischer during his tenure as president of the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne/EPFL (2000–2016). Notably, Aebischer promoted teaching and research in life sciences while deepening cooperation with Lausanne University Hospital/CHUV. Biotech expert Jürg Zürcher argues that Switzerland as a whole constitutes a cluster, with the Basel BioValley employing 50,000 people and the Zurich region employing 21,000. "Together, these three regions form the densest network of biotech firms anywhere in the world", Swiss Info notes, with over 40% of the world's pharmaceutical companies in the Basel region alone. Foreign competing clusters include the Oxford-Cambridge London cluster in the United Kingdom, the Boston, San Francisco, and San Diego clusters in the United States, as well as emerging ones in India (Hyderabad, Bangalore, New Delhi) and China (Shanghai, Shenzhen).

See also General : Science and technology in Switzerland, Pharmaceutical industry in Switzerland Places : Swiss Innovation Park, Campus Biotech, UniverCité, Espace Création Academic institutions : École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, University of Geneva, SICHH, Swiss Institute of Bioinformatics, Université de Lausanne, Wyss Center for bio and neuro-engineering Companies : Abionic - AC Immune - ALRO Engineering SA - Altran - Anecova - Bachem - Bracco - Celgene - Covance - CSL Behring - Debiopharm - Eli Lilly - EspeRare - Ferring Pharmaceuticals - Glenmark Pharmaceuticals - Haleon - IBM - IE Life Science Engineering - Incyte – Iqone Healthcare - Lonza - MayBa.ch - - Merck - NV Logistics - Regen Lab - Socar Research - Socorex - Sophia Genetics - Sunstar - Symbios - Symetis - TRB Chemedica - UCB - Valsynthèse Support: A3P Suisse - Banque Cantonale du Valais - BioAlps - Biopôle - Campus Biotech - Espace Création - Etat de Neuchâtel - EY - Gevers - GGBa - Inartis Network - Innovaud - Katzarov - Kessler - Lausanne Region - MedC. Partners - Medical Cluster - Promotion économique du Canton de Berne - Salon EPHJ-EPMT-SMT - SICHH - The Ark - UniverCité - Voisin Life Sciences Consulting Hospitals : CHUV - Clinique de la Source - Clinique Romande de réadaptation - HUG - Institut de recherche en réadaptation-réinsertion People : Prof. Benoît Dubuis, Ernesto Bertarelli, Hansjörg Wyss

Notes and references

External links BioAlps - Life Sciences Cluster Swiss Life Sciences Database InVivo magazine

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Health Valley

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Health Valley claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Health Valley before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Health Valley ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Health Valley

In research: Health Valley appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Health Valley in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Health Valley is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Biomedical districts, Pharmaceutical companies of Switzerland, Romandy, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Health Valley outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Health Valley in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Health Valley means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Health Valley out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Health Valley in simple terms?

Why does Health Valley matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Health Valley?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Health Valley.