Public-private partnerships (PPPs) are essential for fostering innovation in the healthcare industries. Whether organized upstream in fundamental research or downstream for treatment development, or both, and whether they are part of established structures set up for this purpose, partnerships can take various forms depending on the projects and targeted needs.

Thanks to a wide range of opportunities, it is now easier for researchers, both academic and industrial, to develop lasting relationships. Many options are available to them: simple collaborative R&D contracts, open strategic partnerships for innovation, research consortia funded by the European Commission, and more.

France is an excellent hub that plays a key role in the overall R&D strategy of healthcare companies. Its healthcare networks, clinical research, and ethical standards are exceptional. Its institutions and universities, along with the excellence of its fundamental research and scientists, are fully capable of meeting the challenges of international competition.

The establishment of the Strategic Council for Healthcare Industries, followed by the creation of AVIESAN and ariis, are three major advances that have significantly accelerated the rapprochement between the public and private sectors. Established in 2004, the Strategic Council for Healthcare Industries (CSIS) is a forum for informal and open debates and exchanges, allowing public authorities to better understand the constraints, challenges, and ambitions of the sector, and for industrial players to better perceive the requirements of different public policies in order to adjust their business strategies. It is within the framework of the CSIS that the industry and public actors can set common objectives. The sustainability of the French International Research and Development Network (RIR) was one of the recommendations of the 5th CSIS meeting in 2012.

The creation of the National Alliance for Life Sciences and Health (AVIESAN), which promotes closer collaboration between major national research organizations, university hospitals, and universities, has profoundly changed the conditions for the development of partnership research. By fostering new dynamics, creating appropriate structures, and limiting the number of potential public interlocutors, AVIESAN has facilitated the development of industrial research programs in association with public institutions.

The success of this measure was reinforced by the parallel creation in 2010 of the French Alliance for Research and Innovation in Healthcare Industries (ariis), which plays the same coordinating role between different industrial actors and has become the natural institutional contact point for AVIESAN. Since its creation, ariis has aimed to develop public/private and private/private partnerships to promote synergies between pharmaceuticals, medical devices, diagnostics, biotechnologies, and to establish the best environment to foster innovation in healthcare. Unique in the world, ariis is an essential asset for France’s competitiveness and attractiveness, as it promotes the development of innovative products, from idea to patient availability, by bringing together all actors in the healthcare industry.

Regarding PPPs, the annual international R&D meetings co-organized by ariis and AVIESAN are probably a unique initiative that has generated over the past 7 years more than 700 meetings between academic and industrial researchers in the fields of cancer, cardiovascular and metabolic diseases, infectious diseases, neuroscience, inflammation, rare diseases, and personalized medicine.