“I remain a physicist at heart”

Laurent-Dominique Piveteau may be the CEO of an SME, but he remains a “physicist at heart”. "I love this science because I can transform it into something tangible: it's fascinating to go from the fundamental stage to a concrete application. All the more so in the medical field, which provides useful solutions", enthuses the new Professor of Practice at EPFL's College of Technology Management. In this new role, he is fulfilling an old teaching dream that has been with him since the end of his thesis at the University of Fribourg. In a style inspired by management schools, he asks his students to put themselves in the shoes of business consultants. He also unsettles them with concrete cases that they must analyze to better understand the challenges associated with strategic innovation management. "A large majority of these students will join the industry at the end of their studies. I share with them not only my experience in the field, but also the issues they may face one day. This takes place in a course that we co-construct together."

First generation Erasmus

Managing technology transfer is at the heart of Debiotech, a company active in the production of medical solutions, which he has been managing for 10 years. Before becoming CEO, he spent 10 years in various positions, from project manager to business development. Laurent-Dominique Piveteau still remembers his surprise and delight when the owner of the SME asked him one evening, during a business trip to Boston, if he wanted to take over as CEO. "I accepted with some trepidation. It's never easy to be the first in this position when the company has always been in family hands," he recalls.

A faithful descendant of a line of academics, he followed in his great-grandfather's footsteps and chose to study physics like him. However, unlike his great-grandfather, he studied physics at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich. With a passion for astronomy, he turned to optics for his Master's thesis. Being of the first generation to take part in the Erasmus exchange program, he was delighted to be accepted at Polytechnique Paris for his final semester of study. An experience made all the more rewarding as that is where he met his future wife and mother of his three children. Continuing with a doctoral thesis was a natural progression, and this would be at the University of Fribourg, in the field of solid state physics.

Physics in the medical field

"I worked on surface treatment for bone implants. It was my first exposure to the medical world. I fell in love with it, and it's a field I've never left. Physics meant modifying surfaces like titanium to make them more biocompatible, particularly for orthopedic implants. Two things have always interested me in physics: the application aspect and the industrial aspect." The scientist continued his biomedical research at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in the United States. “Two wonderful years”, at the end of which he had to choose between an academic career on the other side of the Atlantic and the private sector. His desire to return to Europe swayed his decision, and he embarked on an MBA at INSEAD, which he completed between Singapore and Fontainebleau in 2001.

His professional career took him back to Switzerland at the time of the opening of the Faculty of Life Sciences at EPFL, where he was involved in developing major partnerships with the business world. Through IBM's involvement, he took part in the development of what was to become the Blue Brain Project, involved in the first biologically detailed digital reconstructions and simulations of the mouse brain. After joining Debiotech, he kept one foot firmly planted at EPFL as a lecturer in Professor Dominique Foray's innovation course. "Teaching is a real eye-opener. It forces us to think globally about innovation. I started my career in physics and I'm coming back years later to management. It's a wonderful opportunity", enthuses the new EPFL Professor of Practice.