Normandy, a leading region in the development of the health of the future

Healthcare, a significant industry of the Normandy economy

Leading region for connected medical devices, the second-largest region in France for pharmaceutical chemistry, and the third-largest for the production of medicines, Normandy is one of the leading regions in health-related industries. Normandy is rich of a diversified and well-implemented healthcare ecosystem on its territory, which supports the development of innovative companies and the health of the future.

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Major French and international healthcare companies recognize Normandy’s strengths and are already implemented in the region. For example, the four word leaders GSK, Johnson & Johnson, MSD, and Sanofi have been implemented in Normandy for years.

Normandy, a healthcare ecosystem of international excellence

The region benefits from a diversified healthcare ecosystem of international excellence. Normandy offers a high-performance environment for the companies’ development in the domain of health and well-being, an access to a high-level scientific network internationally recognized, and allows synergies between clinical medicine, chemistry, and biology. Located in the region’s two main cities, Rouen and Caen, Normandy has two major healthcare ecosystems that bring together all the industry’s significant actors.

In Caen, the science & innovation park Epopea is a 300-hectare site dedicated to global innovation in health, materials and energy, and digital sciences. Epopea represents 16,000 jobs, 1,000 researchers, and 14,000 students. The hospital of the future and the connected patient are at the heart of Epopea. BodyCAP, a Normandy-based company that aims to produce miniaturized physical monitoring solutions, is one of the many startups that chose Epopea to benefit from its well-structured and diverse ecosystem.

Located at the heart of Rouen, the Rouen Health Campus is the second significant health ecosystem in Normandy. The campus brings together, in an area of 6 hectares, critical actors of the health sector, such as the university hospital and its innovation clusters, providing a link between innovation and the medical world. On top of benefiting from the Medical Training Center, simulation training center and training in biomedical techniques, the campus also welcomes R&D laboratories.

From acceleration to development and industrialization

In addition to a well-implemented healthcare ecosystem, the region supports companies in all of their development phases, from the incubation step to the acceleration and industrialization. Normandie Incubation has already supported 296 projects and 225 companies have been created with a 70% survival rate. They also have developed a specific program for deeptech projects with a dedicated support system. Robocath is one of the perfect examples of an innovative company that took advantage of the Normandy region’s advantages. Specializing in high-value-added robotic solutions to improve the management of endovascular procedures, the company, created in 2009, benefitted from the support of Normandie Incubation.

On January 25, Selha group inaugurated in Normandy its industrial incubator called Tech-Up corner, which offers a turnkey solution. In addition to having access to a collaborative space and service offers, startups have access to industrial tools such as a prototyping line, mechanical workshop, test benches, failure analysis laboratory, and logistics platform. To build the first 100% connected medical backpack, Alrena chose the Tech-Up corner. Similarly, Virtuoz chose the Tech-Up corner to industrialize its tactile and vocal map, allowing visually impaired or blind people to understand their environment and move around it independently.

Backed by the health sector, a world-renowned ecosystem for processing, securitizing, and valorizing data is present and grouped within the Data Lab association based in Caen. The association makes it easier to access data specialists, particularly regarding the stakes related to data security, a major issue in the healthcare sector.

Normandy is strongly committed to support the development of the health of the future

The Normandy Region has a strong ambition to strengthen its heath economic ecosystem and be a leader in the health of the future in partnership with the Normandy Development Agency (AD Normandie), as well as with the actors of the ecosystem such as Polepharma, pharmaceutical cluster, and the Pôle TES, digital competitiveness cluster.

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