Michel DU PELOUX (President Merck Médication Familiale)
The rapid rise of “diseases of civilisation” – obesity and diabetes first and foremost – has revealed the need for a new way of thinking about food behaviour, and underlined the lack of scientific knowledge of the impact of eating habits on our health.
Drawing on a solid scientific base, the Health & Nutrition Company Cluster has the goal of contributing innovative solutions to major public health concerns: diabetes / obesity, cancer, cardiovascular diseases, immunity and resistance.
Reinforcing the research and economic development activities of the region, the Health & Nutrition cluster has put forward the founding concept of “Nutrition Valley®”: following the example of Silicon Valley in California, this cluster aims to create economic momentum that will boost employment in Burgundy. This vision has the goal of establishing the region as a necessary port-of-call for the evaluation or the launch of innovative concepts and products in the fields of cardiovascular disease, cancer and obesity.
To give an international image to this project, Vitagora Health & Nutrition organised the International Health & Nutrition Congress, held for the first time in March 2006 and attracting an international audience. Highlighting the scientific excellence of the Dijon area, this congress aims to become a worldwide reference in the area of fundamental research into nutrition.
The Health & Nutrition community groups together the following elements:
Medical and scientific experts Research and evaluation laboratories Researchers from private and public organisations Pharmaceutical laboratories Service providers in the health sector
The expertise to be found in Dijon in this sector includes public R & D facilities (INRA, CNRS, INSERM), research units of the Faculties of Medicine and Pharmacy of the University of Burgundy, and also laboratories specialised in the identification of effects and the development of procedures (Créabio / Alphamap, CRITT 2ABI, Promogène, Oncodesign, Spiral etc.).
The cluster also draws on the presence of international industry leaders established in the region such as Merck Medication Familiale, Urgo and Fournier Pharma (Solvay group).
The market for nutritional supplements in France presents growth figures of 20 % between 2002 and 2005, and an average of about 15 % for the whole of Europe. The presence of these international groups, in the French domestic market just as in international markets (Europe, US, Canada, Asia etc.), will be a considerable advantage for marketing products that may be developed by Vitagora Health & Nutrition.
Three objectives have been identified:
Unite the high level of scientific expertise already present in Burgundy (concerning once again cardiovascular pathologies, obesity, diabetes, cancer, immunology etc) in the form of private-public partnerships.
Develop employment, the economy and innovation with an international vision.
To achieve these objectives, four critical actions have been selected:
Create high value-added collective services on an international level.
Attract other research partners to Dijon and to Burgundy, as well as businesses in the Health-Nutrition sector.
Encourage the creation of “Nutrition-health” product lines and services that generate economic activity and jobs.
Print version
