Name of our new French Lab member: Bettina Hudry-Gerez
A very warm welcome to you!
- Could you tell us a bit about what brought you to Singapore and/or what you do in Singapore?
I am heading the APAC headquarter of Alcimed based in Singapore, an untypical consulting company. Why? Because we are not consultants, we are an unconventional team of explorers with a background at the interface between science & business, learning everyday while having fun đ!
In a nutshell, I joined the company 11 years ago in the food BU in Paris. I started as a consultant exploring and developing uncharted territories of MNCs along the food value chain. I felt like a detective! I switched into business development in 2012 and after 7 years I realized that even if I was not bored with the diversity of clients and questions, I needed new challenges. ALCIMED was fitting 100% with my values and I wanted to continue with the company while starting over from a white page to feel again adventure, surpass myself and do what I love the most: starting businesses.
Singapore was then obvious. It is our last office with a whole story to build, an intrapreneurial adventure where the challenge is to develop the business with high decision makers in life science as well as developing our regional team to grow sustainably. Now we are a team of 7 explorers working daily with key APAC players in food (agribusiness, human & animal nutrition, F&B), healthcare (pharmaceutical, medtechs, biotech, diagnostic), personal & beauty care.
- In a few words, describe your main scientific/research interests?
I come originally from the chemistry field with my engineering background. Quickly, I entered the agrifood sector and more recently, the healthcare sector. My main focus are on different topics we covered with our clients: nutrition, sustainability, agriculture, vaccines, rare disease, oncology, medtechs, animal health.
I am not an expert, I have only the background to understand the science, technology or business challenges of our clients and help find solutions.
- Could you share a few examples of what are or could be the application(s) of your professional activities (whether in the research, innovation or industrial field)?
The topics we covered with R&D are related to innovation, helping explore and develop the uncharted territories.
We support R&D directors to scout technologies & understand its market potential, expand into new offers with new scientific evidences, anticipate possible futures to drive their R&D strategy, get inspirations from other sectors to find out new solutions or accelerate innovation with new ways to innovate or new strategic partners.
More extensively, 30 years ago, our 2 femal founders, Valérie & Géraldine, started Alcimed by helping biotechnology companies to get a clear vision on their business opportunities being an emerging sector without reliable information, all scattered in the ecosystem. From this, we have built a DNA of explorers able to investigate grey areas, new frontiers for our clients, complex markets with poor data, no consensus. The team is now made of 220 explorers across 8 international offices dedicated by sector with one shared passion for innovation & development of new businesses. 80% of our clients are MNCs, 20% are private equity funds, innovative SMEs or public institutions.
- Are you currently collaborating with French and/or Singaporean institutes?
I am connected with some institutes (La French Tech Asia for example, EDB, Singapore Women in Science), but definitively not enough!! I would be interested to have more connections and if we can help, I would be glad to!
- How did you first hear or come across the French Lab?
A friend of mine shared with me this community.
- What do you hope to find in joining the French Lab Singapore network?
I would be very happy to connect with the other members, learn, get inspirations & network.
- What activities would best meet your expectations?
I could imagine events getting inspirative talks on important topic for singapore (eg. Alternative proteins, personalized medicineâŠ) as well as networking moments.
