KITLIVING
"It was a very tough
moment in my life," Alain
Bindels says. "I really felt
helpless in that moment
and realised how fragile
life is. I mean, it was really two weeks of
not knowing what the outcome would
be. Like, will I get better, will I be able to
see my family again?"
He did recover. But Bindels, Head of
Innovation Facilitation & Digitalisation at
Roche, says he's not the same man he
was before having the disease. After 15
days on his back, a fever as high as 41.1
degrees and losing 10% of oxygen in his
blood, he stumbled out of bed with one
word ever-present in his mind: solidarity.
Somehow, after Covid-19, he saw
connections he'd missed before, and
realised the importance of sustainability
and our responsibility as a society, a
community and at an individual level. He
says he understood that the future - both
personally and professionally - hinges
on partnerships. "I think the only way
to go forward after Covid-19 is through
collaboration and helping each other,"
he says. "To be honest, before I was not
focused so much on sustainability or
on sustainable development goals. But
through this experience I realised the
importance of solidarity, sustainability and
building ecosystems to make change
happen."
The disease not only transformed
Bindels, it also transformed the annual
Innovation Summit he organises. As he
Call it what you will - a near-death experience, a revelation, an
awakening. But when you talk with Alain Bindels, you'll find a man
changed by having had Covid-19, yet the experience has given him
THE FUTURE HINGES ON
PARTNERSHIPS
watched the necessity-driven innovation
and agility spurred by the pandemic,
he also recognised an opportunity to
harness solidarity around the globe,
and unite innovators across pharma,
governments, academia, patients, startups and
non-profits to work together to
deliver solutions that matter for patients.
He commented, "My wish for the future
is that we have built this ecosystem with
partnerships of start-ups, universities,
experts, private companies, even NGOs,
and we have the patient included really in
the middle of all of that. So, the focus is
how can we bring those worlds together
into a functioning ecosystem that's
centered around patient needs?"
Life is fragile
When asked what surprised him most
about his experience as a Covid-19
patient, Bindels says it's the fragility of life,
and the connections that his vulnerability
allowed him to see. He summarises,
"We all are part of a big community in a
big world, and we have to take care of
each other," he says. "I think life is fragile,
societies are fragile, and if we really want
to create a positive future, a sustainable
future for everybody, we need to rethink
how we are working as a society, as a
community and also on a personal level."
From a personal blog published June
2020. Read more about Bindels'
experience in his Voices blog:
Something in me changed.
Alain Bindels, Head of Innovation
Facilitation & Digitalisation at Roche