Jacques Laurent appointed Director of Bluefactory

After a professional selection process, 6 candidates from more than 120 applications were shortlisted and interviewed and finally the board of administrators decided for Jacques Laurent. His profile and his experience put together all the different aspects necessary to manage the challenges of this project of strategic importance for Fribourg. Jacques Laurent acquired extensive experience, a Swiss and international network as well as a unique expertise in the development and management of multi-company parks as well as in coaching start-ups.

Laurent’s objective will be to implement the ambitious strategy of BFFSA to realize and develop the new innovation quarter in the heart of Fribourg. His first goal will be to allow the new occupants (in particular the technology platforms) to start their activities, then to coordinate the construction of the first new buildings.

Since its creation in the spring 2014, BFFSA has initiated a number of projects aiming at developing the blueFACTORY site and to allow at the earliest the installation of the technology platforms. The newly renovated building « Annexe 2 » is already full and new occupants have arrived on the site. Both projects « South Zone » (to use the «bottling hall» and the « blue hall ») and « North Zone » (hall A1), are underway. Simultaneously, the PAC procedure which will finalize the Masterplan should go to consultation at the beginning of 2015 and the first demolition works will start within the next weeks.

«I wish Jacques Laurent all the best as the new director of BFFSA. His experience at the head of EPFL’s Innovation park, his know-how in terms of operations and finance, his deep knowledge of the energy-sustainability worlds and his analytic capabilities, together with his decisiveness, are the guarantee for BFFSA to be managed adequately and efficiently in the future. blueFACTORY will then be in a position to continue its growth ensuring a sound cost management», says Maurice Pasquier, President of the board of administrators of BFFSA.