A globally competitive talent engine

Switzerland's dual education system blends strong vocational training with elite academic pathways, spanning ETH Zurich, EPFL, the country's ten universities, and eight universities of applied sciences, enabling lifelong mobility and global competitiveness. Its innovation ecosystem is also remarkably international. Foreign nationals account for roughly half of startup founders, 78% of unicorn founders, and the majority of STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics) PhD graduates — a diversity that greatly exceeds their approximately 26% share of the Swiss population. Openness to global talent strengthens innovation capacity and accelerates cross-disciplinary exchange.

This is particularly impactful in TechBio, where biology, data, engineering, and digital tools converge to unlock new possibilities in health, sustainability, and industrial biotechnology. Such bioconvergence thrives in ecosystems with fluid expertise and high mobility.

Collaboration amplifies impact. International co-authorship boosts scientific relevance, while participation in Horizon Europe strengthens Switzerland's integration into global research networks. The Swiss Federal Institutes of Technology, ETH Zurich and EPFL Lausanne, rank among Europe's most efficient universities in converting research into high-value spin-outs relative to population and STEM graduates. This strength — central to Switzerland's TechBio growth — is reinforced by CSEM's role as a key translational bridge, supporting industrialization, applied research, and technology transfer from lab to market.

Tenacity: innovating for the long run

Swiss innovation leadership is built on long‑termism. Deeptech often requires years of iteration, especially in regulated markets such as for medical, biotech or pharmaceutical applications. Aktiia, a CSEM spin-off, illustrates this model: its cuffless blood-pressure monitoring technology matured through sustained in-house engineering and extensive clinical validation before reaching market readiness. Similarly, VeriPlate, co‑developed by CSEM in partnership with Hamilton, advanced only once technology readiness aligned with market needs. Funding mechanisms such as Innosuisse help early‑stage ventures survive critical phases, embedding tenacity into the national innovation culture.

Platforms like Deep Tech Nation Switzerland further reinforce this culture of long-term innovation. Deep Tech Nation acts as a catalyst for the Swiss innovation ecosystem, aiming to improve conditions for deeptech startups and scale-ups and to mobilize significantly more venture capital over the next decade. Its mission underscores that deeptech requires sustained investment, patient capital and a supportive ecosystem that can survive extended R&D phases — exactly the kind of tenacity that the Swiss culture of innovation embodies.

Collaboration at scale: the Swiss way

Switzerland is globally recognized for academia–industry partnerships that accelerate the path from discovery to market. Research organizations, universities, startups, and established companies co-create solutions that are robust, scalable, and industry-ready. CSEM exemplifies this approach. Since 1984, it has executed roughly 250 industrial collaborations per year, maintained about 200 patent families, and supported a steady pipeline of spin‑outs in precision manufacturing, digital technologies, and sustainable energy.

Concrete examples show how this model delivers impact:

• Visienco evolved from CSEM technologies to automate organoid sorting, co‑developed with IOB for retinal‑disease research.
• Cutiss, initially supported by CSEM, now partners with Tecan to automate bioengineered‑skin production.
• SUN bioscience, another CSEM‑supported startup, was acquired by InSphero to expand 3D cell‑model capabilities.

Why it matters

Switzerland offers a replicable blueprint: open talent pipelines, structured collaboration, and long-term support for deeptech. Talent without tenacity doesn't compound. Tenacity without collaboration doesn't scale. Switzerland's leadership comes from combining all three — and turning complexity into impact.