bioMérieux inaugurated its new Rodolphe Mérieux Campus, in Bagno a Ripoli, Italy during May. The site includes a new R&D centre focusing on the fight against antimicrobial resistance, representing an investment of €9 million.
The new R&D building at the site near Florence has been named the Michele Palladino Research and Innovation Center. It houses bioMérieux teams developing cutting-edge diagnostic solutions to help combat antimicrobial resistance (AMR).
Among the officials who attended the inaugural event were Alain Mérieux, Chairman of Institut Mérieux, Pierre Boulud, Chief Executive Officer of bioMérieux, Cyril Blondel, Minister Counselor of the French Embassy to Italy, Stefano Ciuoffo, Tuscany Region Representative and Francesco Casini, Mayor of Bagno a Ripoli.
The new bioMérieux R&D centre is the result of three years of work, with the state-of-the-art 2000sqm building housing a research and development centre, the offices of the R&D teams and their partner functions as well as creative areas and social spaces.
“This building was designed to foster exchange and innovation while improving the wellbeing of our team members. We also have larger spaces to accommodate our colleagues from other bioMérieux sites, as well as our external visitors, in order to facilitate collaborative work,” explains Pascal Quinodon, Director of the Florence site.
In addition to a biological laboratory, the new R&D centre is equipped with a climatic chamber and a semi-anechoic chamber for performing electro-magnetic compatibility tests, accelerated development and increased productivity.
The Rodolphe Mérieux Campus has been conbstructed to be an environmentally friendly building, in line with bioMérieux’s corporate social responsibility (CSR) ambition. Photovoltaic panels installed on the roof can cover up to 35% of the new building's energy consumption. Geothermal energy saves the equivalent of 21 tons of CO2 per year. Collecting rainwater for running sanitary facilities and watering gardens saves 250 m3 of water per year. Finally, several actions in favour of biodiversity have been implemented as part of a partnership with LIPU – the Italian league for bird protection.