‘I’m committed to ensuring that others can make free choices’ – Eleonore Poli talks about space, innovation and the power of role models

A biotech company without a laboratory? What sounds like a contradiction is, for Abbmira Therapeutics, the smartest business model. The Basel-based start-up is developing a drug to treat cancer and relies entirely on external experts from the Basel life sciences cluster. In an interview with the SATW, Julia Biwer, COO and co-founder, discusses why this model works, why venture capital is hard to come by in Switzerland, and what this reveals about Switzerland’s culture of innovation.

Headlines about PFAS are becoming increasingly frequent: this group of substances, which went unnoticed for a long time, is everywhere – even in food and in the bodies of humans and animals – and it is not simply going to disappear. Whilst environmental and consumer protection campaigners are pushing for a swift end to exposure, industry is searching for alternatives for key technologies. However, the path to a PFAS-free future is a generational project that will challenge business, research and society for decades to come. In an interview with SATW, Manfred Heuberger (Empa), Martin Scheringer (ETH Zurich) and Dominique Werner (Scienceindustries) explain what the biggest challenges are when dealing with PFAS.