Smiling Children Gala raises CHF 1.4 million
Hosted by the Bertarelli Foundation, the 2010 Gala held in favour of Smiling Children’s international activities drew an enthusiastic crowd of nearly 700 guests on 21 January. Over CHF 1,400,000 were raised in the course of the evening. A part will be dedicated to recovery projects led by women’s groups in Haiti.
Net Leman
On June 27, almost 1500 people volunteered for the fourth annual Net’Léman, where Lake Geneva is cleared of waste.
Lifesciences
Life sciences are a natural environment for the Bertarelli Foundation’s activities and commitment. The family has been deeply involved in this sector for three generations: the grandfather Pietro managed the Istituto Farmacologico Serono in Rome; the father Fabio moved the Ares-Serono Group to Switzerland in 1977; Ernesto drove Serono to become the world’s third largest biotechnology company and Dona was also involved in the management of the company.
Building on the Foundation’s initial focus on the disease area of infertility, the Bertarelli family, individually or as a group, has always dedicated interest and resources to projects related to health. An example has been Dona’s support for the World Heart Federation through her sailing team Ladycat. More recently, the Bertarelli Foundation has embraced the opportunity to be a key partner of the Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) innovative Center for Neuroprostheses.
In its plans for the future, the Foundation intends to continue promoting research and development in many areas of this critical sector for human endeavour.
