“For a country like Switzerland, competitiveness often comes through innovation”
An extended analysis of the 2023 European Innovation Scoreboard has just crowned Switzerland the most innovative country in Europe.
How do you explain this leading position, and what, in your view, are the levers that enable Switzerland to be a major player in this field?
Innovation is indeed a recipe for success for Switzerland. There is no magic formula. The factors that explain Switzerland’s leading position in innovation are many: Switzerland’s world-renowned universities, political stability, the dual vocational education and training system and a rich history of SMEs and companies that are as innovative as they are successful. Private-sector spending on research and development is high by international standards, thanks in particular to the pharmaceutical and chemical industries. For a country like Switzerland, with a small domestic market and high labour costs, competitiveness often comes through innovation. Innovation helps companies, and small and medium-sized enterprises in particular, to remain competitive, especially those active on international markets.
It is therefore clear that innovation is and must remain at the heart of Switzerland’s economic development. However, investing in innovation is costly and involves certain risks for companies. The role of Innosuisse, as a government agency, is precisely to encourage Swiss companies to innovate by collaborating with research institutes in Switzerland and abroad.
How can more innovation bridges be built between Switzerland and Morocco?
Switzerland’s international strategy in the field of education, research and innovation is based in particular on the principle that it is up to autonomous and responsible players (individuals, higher education institutions, research and innovation institutions) to forge and maintain their own international partnerships. This so-called “bottom-up” principle, whereby players decide for themselves whom they wish to collaborate with and on what topic, has proved its worth. The Swiss State Secretariat for Education, Research and Innovation thus mandates certain higher education institutions in Switzerland as “Leading Houses” for the development of seed funding and innovative pilot projects. In this way, research and innovation cooperation can be deepened with regions that have strong potential for scientific and technological development.
For the period 2021 to 2024, the University of Applied Sciences and Arts Western Switzerland (HES-SO) is acting as “Leading House” for North Africa and the Middle East. Within a bilateral framework, a call for research projects between HES-SO and the Moroccan Ministry of Higher Education, Scientific Research and Innovation was thus launched in September 2022. Ten Swiss-Moroccan projects are expected to be funded. Another example of scientific relations is the “Excellence in Africa” (EXAF) programme launched in 2020 by the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne (EPFL) and Mohammed VI Polytechnic University, which aims to support cutting-edge research across the African continent.
What are Innosuisse’s major projects in the short and medium term?
Switzerland cannot rest on its laurels. International competition in innovation is very strong. Innosuisse therefore wants to continue helping Swiss small and medium-sized enterprises to meet the challenges ahead of them, particularly in terms of digital transformation, while maintaining their innovative strength and international competitiveness. Strengthening the start-up sector and entrepreneurship in Switzerland remains another priority for Innosuisse. In addition, consolidating and extending Innosuisse’s international cooperation in Europe, but also with various countries around the world, are important fields of activity for the Swiss Innovation Agency.