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Get more out of your R&D activities with Switzerland Innovation

22.12.17
Switzerland Innovation creates a platform where groundbreaking researchers, innovative companies, and entrepreneurs can work together.
Switzerland Innovation creates a platform where groundbreaking researchers, innovative companies, and entrepreneurs can work together.

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As a network of Swiss innovation parks, Switzerland Innovation provides a platform for corporate research and development teams to collaborate with leading scientists from academia, industry partners and pioneering start-ups. It facilitates access to the expertise of the world’s leading universities, such as Swiss Federal Institutes of Technology ETH Zurich and EPFL, and the Paul Scherrer Institute (PSI). Companies collaborating with PARK INNOVAARE, one of Switzerland Innovation’s five sites, benefit from technology transfer platforms, state-of-the-art infrastructure and a unique atmosphere, which together foster the creation of the next best-selling products and services.


According to the Global Innovation Index (GII), Switzerland is the most innovative country in the world. It constantly launches new initiatives to attract R&D activities. Switzerland Innovation, one such initiative, showcases the opportunities that the Swiss innovation park holds for research-oriented companies around the world. Its objective is to help generate additional private R&D investments from abroad. As such, it supports Swiss and foreign R&D-driven companies in setting up their R&D activities in Switzerland. Top locations provide access to the expertise of the world’s leading universities and research institutions, among them the prestigious Swiss Federal Institutes of Technology ETH Zurich and EPFL, and Switzerland’s largest research center for engineering and natural sciences, the Paul Scherrer Institute (PSI).

Direct access to first-class R&D capacities

The opportunity to exchange know-how with Switzerland’s leading experts makes it possible to transition the latest research results in the areas of health and life sciences, energy, environment and natural resources, industrial production processes, ICT, and mobility and transportation to the market. Thus, Switzerland Innovation offers companies the chance to engage with a community and ecosystem with strong knowledge in their specific areas of expertise. For example, companies with a lab at the park have direct access to professors, PhD students and post-docs working at partner universities, who can provide relevant insights and new problem solutions. Finally, each of the parks offers infrastructure to innovators, be it office and laboratory space to rent, or access to sophisticated technology platforms or large research facilities.

At the innovation park, through our cooperation with academia, we have easy access to people, expertise, knowledge and state-of-the-art research. We are in close proximity to exciting start-ups and technology companies and are able to attract excellent graduate students and researchers.

Eric Rolland, PhD, Head of Nestlé Institute of Health Science

Many international corporations have already seized the opportunity and shifted a significant part of their R&D operations to Switzerland. Among them is Google, whose Switzerland R&D center has become the company’s largest R&D site outside the United States. Speaking of pharmaceutical and materials industries, Amgen, DuPont, Biogen, Johnson & Johnson have also relocated. Together with Novartis and Roche as the incumbent players, they attract many highly skilled experts from all over the world.

Not just space and services, also money

To facilitate investments, Switzerland Innovation provides 350,000,000 Swiss francs of federal guarantees. An initial 150 million Swiss francs of funding is already available. This means that companies can now file concrete project proposals for research infrastructures as well as technology platforms and installations. The funds can be awarded in slices ranging from 1 million up to 30 million Swiss francs and can be used for extensions to existing research infrastructures, such as large research facilities, or instruments that require high investments such as cryo-electron microscopes, clean rooms or novel production facilities for innovative materials or products. PARK INNOVAARE supports companies in obtaining grants from this new funding instrument, which is exclusive to Switzerland Innovation residents.