Look beyond the dramatic mountain scenery and ski slopes, and Switzerland is becoming a hotspot for innovation and university technology spin-outs. The alpine country with a population of 7.6 million is home to 61 technology parks, and its universities are churning out dozens of science-based start-ups every year.
Perhaps the most famous Silicon Valley-type success story is that of GlycArt Biotechnology, a spin-out from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich (ETH Zurich), which was acquired in 2005 by pharma giant Roche for CHF 235 (€150 million).
That sum - for a company founded only five years earlier - caught the eye of global investors. “It put us on the radar for venture capitalists overseas,” says Silvio Bonaccio, head of ETH Transfer, the university’s technology transfer organisation. “There were even cold calls from VCs.”
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Author: Michael Kenward
