Timestamps:

2:46 - Understanding Self-Driving Labs

6:07 - Defining BioTools and Their Market

14:49 - Building an Ecosystem for BioTools

18:11 - Future Directions for Ateneri and Innovaud

This episode was co-produced with Innovaud, the innovation and investment promotion agency for the canton of Vaud. Check out https://www.innovaud.ch/en/ to learn more.

Episode Summary:

In this episode we’re joined by François Capel, Innovation Advisor at Innovaud, the innovation agency behind the canton of Vaud, who is leading the push to define and build a new category in life sciences: BioTools, positioning Switzerland as a hub for companies building tools for research, not just end products. With him is Loïc Roch, the co-founder and CTO of Atinary, a Swiss deep tech AI company building self-driving labs from Lausanne and Silicon Valley. By combining robotics, machine learning, and automated experimentation, Atinary is fundamentally changing how scientific discovery happens.

In this episode, we unpack three key ideas. First, why the next wave of AI is moving beyond software into the physical world, automating entire R&D pipelines and accelerating discovery by up to 1000x. Second, how BioTool startups operate under a completely different business model than traditional biotech, avoiding regulation and enabling faster go-to-market, but facing new challenges in sales, pricing, and positioning. Third, how Atinary is building a data flywheel through self-driving labs, turning experimentation into a scalable, AI-driven process.

We also go deeper into the nuances behind building in Switzerland. François shares why BioTools require a new category identity for investors, coaches, and founders to understand the opportunity, and how ecosystem coordination in places like Vaud can accelerate entire industries. Loïc reflects on the real bottleneck in deep tech, not technology, but change management, and what it takes to shift decades-old scientific workflows. And together, they highlight why Switzerland’s strength is not just in individual startups, but in building tightly connected ecosystems that can compete globally.

The cover portrait was edited by ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠www.smartportrait.io⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.