New companies strengthen life sciences in the Basel region
Not only Basel-Stadt, but also the cantons of Basel-Landschaft and Jura are increasingly attracting foreign companies from the life sciences. Three quarters of all relocations supported by the Basel Area Business & Innovation location promotion programme in 2024 come from this sector.
Basel Area Business & Innovation, the agency for location promotion and innovation promotion, supported a total of 36 companies with their relocation in 2024. According to its annual report, 26 of these are active in the life sciences. The companies come from 16 countries, 24 from Europe and six each from the USA and Asia.
In his press release on this annual report, Christof Klöpper, CEO of Basel Area Business & Innovation, emphasises that his agency’s efforts to expand the life sciences industry to the entire economic region are bearing fruit: “Foreign companies that settle here are increasingly choosing the cantons of Basel-Landschaft and Jura as a location in addition to Basel-Stadt. This enriches our life sciences cluster immensely.”
This is thanks to the expansion of innovation areas such as the Switzerland Innovation Park Basel Area with its three sites in Allschwil BL, Novartis Campus and Jura. It is also pleasing that companies from other sectors, such as ICT, are increasingly settling in such innovation areas. The press release also mentions that Basel Area Business & Innovation was ranked number one among smaller European cities in February 2025 by fDi, the investment portal of the Financial Times, in its Top 10 rankings of European Cities and Regions of the Future 2025.
Overall, the number of new companies founded last year was slightly lower than the previous year at 67, but remains in line with the long-term average. The location promoter describes the track record of the two local start-up incubators BaseLaunch and DayOne as impressive. Investments totalling 478 million were channelled into start-ups that were supported by them. According to the companies that set up or founded in 2024, they aim to create more than 700 additional jobs in five years.