emlyon business school launches the Healthcare Innovation, Technology & Society (HITS) Institute and the emlyon BioPharma curriculum

As part of its “Resonances 2024-2028” strategic plan emlyon business school is launching the Healthcare Innovation, Technology & Society (HITS) Institute and introducing a new emlyon BioPharma curriculum for students on the Master in Management (‘Grande Ecole’) program, thereby boosting its attractiveness in healthcare education with a view to becoming the benchmark business school in this key economic sector.

Launch of the new Healthcare Innovation, Technology & Society (HITS) Institute

The HITS Institute, headed by Professor Bruno Versaevel, coordinates degree and executive education programs in healthcare, oversees research activities and supports entrepreneurship:

• Degree programs include a Master of Science (MSc) in Health Management & Data Intelligence and the new emlyon BioPharma curriculum in the Master in Management (‘Grande Ecole’) program. Executive trainingfeatures open programs (on clinical development management for example) and customized courses (such as “Break Through” which has been running for ten years in collaboration with Bristol Myers Squibb, and the award-winning “Management de Projets Innovants”  program co-designed with Lyon’s public hospitals, HCL).
• Research led by a team of 15 permanent or associate members focuses on demand factors that shape healthcare requirements (for example, insurance behaviors) as well as supply issues (optimizing medical logistics, measuring hospital KPIs), occupational health (employee engagement, the mental health of top management, the impact of incentives on health at work) and R&D (for example, AI applied to biology) for the discovery and development of new drugs and vaccines.
• The HITS Institute also supports the activities of the emlyon incubator/accelerator which has contributed to the creation or scaling up of more than fifty innovative healthcare enterprises. It capitalizes on the expertise and the network of permanent Faculty members as well as ecosystem partners. Healthcare company founders and leaders (for example ACS Biotech, winner of the #TechForFuture 2024 award) receive guidance in identifying growth levers at each stage of their development. 

Introduction of the emlyon BioPharma curriculum for Master in Management (‘Grande Ecole’ program) students

In parallel to the launch of the HITS (Healthcare Innovation, Technology & Society) Institute, emlyon has created a BioPharma curriculum which will further enhance the attractiveness of the Master in Management (‘Grande Ecole’ program).

emlyon BioPharma is a curriculum integrated in the ‘Grande Ecole’ program leading to a Masters qualification. It is designed for students with a first degree (BSc or above) in life sciences (biochemistry, bioengineering, microbiology, immunology, pharmacy etc.) who are aiming for a career in biotechnology or the pharmaceutical industry.

emlyon BioPharma is a two-year course: 

• In the first year, a specialized academic path consisting of two economics modules specific to the biopharmaceutical sector.
• In the second year, the opportunity to apply to spend an academic semester at Copenhagen Business School (Denmark) on the Master of Science (MSc) in Business Administration and Bioentrepreneurship program before following a four-module vocational path benefiting from input from experts, scientists, managers and entrepreneurs from research centers, biotech companies and pharmaceutical companies.

Students with French qualifications are admitted to the ‘Grande Ecole’ program following an entrance exam whereas students with qualifications obtained outside France follow a specific admissions route. 

An exceptional scientific and industrial ecosystem 

The HITS Institute and the emlyon BioPharma curriculum benefit from close links with an exceptional scientific and industrial ecosystem. The new emlyon campus which is due to open at the start of the next academic year is located in Gerland, in the heart of the Lyon life sciences community. Lyon-Gerland is a research, development and production hub for biotechnology and pharmaceutical products which is home to international organizations (such as the International Agency for Research on Cancer and WHO Academy), multinationals (Boehringer Ingelheim, Sanofi Vaccines, Viatris, …), biotech companies (MaaTPharma, Mablink bioscience, Osivax, …), scientific research establishments (ENS Lyon, CNRS, Inserm Jean Mérieux Bio-safety Level 4 Lab, Lyon 1 University) and technological innovation institutes and clusters (Bioaster, CLARA, Lyonbiopole).

Isabelle Huault, Executive President and Dean, emlyon business school said:

“The inauguration of the Healthcare Innovation, Technology & Society Institute and the introduction of the emlyon BioPharma curriculum are milestone events for emlyon business school at two levels: not only are we consolidating our position as a benchmark business school in a key sector – healthcare – but we are forging even stronger links with Lyon’s acclaimed life sciences ecosystem ecosystem. For emlyon business school, it is further proof of our desire to continually enhance our student offering, in particular the Grande Ecole Program.”