Life sciences and ICT will continue to dominate relocations in 2023
A total of 206 foreign companies settled in Switzerland in 2023. As in previous years, most of the new establishments are active in the life sciences or ICT sectors. Geographically, companies from the USA, Germany, and France dominate.
The location promotion programme of the federal government, regions and cantons can record the relocation of a total of 206 companies to Switzerland in 2023, the Conference of Cantonal Directors of Economic Affairs(VDK) announced in a press release. Once a year, it compiles statistics on the number of foreign companies relocating to Switzerland. As in previous years, companies from the life sciences and ICT sectors dominated the new settlements in the reporting year. Four out of ten new relocations came from the USA, Germany or France.
The 206 companies that relocated last year helped to strengthen cantonal and regional value creation. They have already created 640 jobs throughout Switzerland in their first year of operation. Over the next three years, the number of new jobs is expected to rise to a total of over 2500.
The national location promotion, which is a joint task of the federal government and the cantons, has commissioned the official Swiss organisation for export promotion and location promotion Switzerland Global Enterprise(S-GE) with the national promotion activities. The service agreement for 2024 to 2027 between the Confederation, the cantons and S-GE reinforces the focus on innovative and sustainable industries and technologies. Quality takes precedence over quantity. For example, the companies located here “should also contribute to strengthening the entire regional and local value creation as well as the SME landscape with their innovative expertise in their network”, according to the press release.