Ambassador Félix Baumann, Consul General of Switzerland in New York, represented Switzerland at the opening of the Roche Genentech Innovation Center Boston, alongside Roche CEO Thomas Schinecker and other company executives, Harvard Provost John Manning, Massachusetts Governor Maura Healey, and Boston Mayor Michelle Wu.

The new Innovation Center, located at Harvard’s Enterprise Research Campus in Allston, builds on Roche’s longstanding collaboration with Harvard University and forms part of Roche and Genentech’s USD 50 billion investment commitment in U.S. manufacturing and R&D. The project once again highlights Switzerland’s role as the number one investor in research and development in the United States.

The 95,000-square-foot Roche Genentech Innovation Center further strengthens Boston’s life sciences hub, drawing on the city’s exceptional density of talent and research. Its end-to-end research environment brings together discovery and clinical research with artificial intelligence and data science. With capacity for up to 500 researchers focused on cardiovascular, renal and metabolic diseases, the center is dedicated to advancing the future of life sciences. Roche CEO Thomas Schinecker emphasized the importance of the new center: “Scientific innovation has always been the foundation of Roche and Genentech’s success, and the United States remains one of our most important innovation hubs. This investment in Boston is an important part of our commitment to expand our U.S. manufacturing and R&D footprint.”

A new collaboration between Roche and Harvard in health and data science was also announced. Harvard Provost John Manning highlighted Roche’s role as an anchor tenant of the Enterprise Research Campus, which forms part of the multi-faceted expansion of Boston’s Allston neighborhood.

Governor Healey embraced the center and its contribution to the region’s scientific community: “We’re proud to welcome this new Innovation Center and the groundbreaking research that will help shape the future of medicine.” Boston Mayor Michelle Wu likewise highlighted its economic and scientific impact, describing the center as one “which will create hundreds of jobs, drive new investment and further strengthen Boston’s life sciences ecosystem.”

The Roche Genentech Innovation Center Boston is another example of the close ties between Switzerland and the United States in research and development and advanced manufacturing, bringing together Swiss innovation and one of the world’s leading life sciences ecosystems.