Michael Altorfer
CEO | Swiss Biotech Association

Even the world's most advanced economies and global pharmaceutical giants cannot effectively develop new drugs or healthcare technologies in isolation. For Switzerland this is even more obvious. The lack of a domestic market has compelled Swiss based innovators to form international partnerships to develop innovative processes and products which address global medical needs.

In such a global, collaborative setting, the focus is not on competitiveness but on attractiveness as a collaboration partner — the ability to offer new ideas, know-how and capacity, to earn and build trust, and to adapt to evolving needs. Partnership attractiveness is not earned by force or by power but rather by an ability to listen and contribute, and by a constant search for the best possible, complementary partner globally. As the Swissmedic article stresses, responsible innovation also depends on expertise and integrity, and the ability to build bridges between all the relevant players.

The Swiss biotech industry is international by design. Swiss citizens only make up 30% of the life science talent pool, and four out of five biotech patents filed in Switzerland include an international partner. Switzerland invests heavily in developing talent, with strong universities, university hospitals, and universities of applied sciences, in addition to highly successful apprentice schemes and public private partnerships. On the other hand, it trusts the power of free markets and refrains from using taxpayer money to promote industrial policies.

Therefore, Swiss entrepreneurs and founders of startup ventures know that they cannot rely on government funding but must convince global venture investors that they offer attractive investment and partnering opportunities (see IPI article). Switzerland has not only built an outstanding and growing talent pool but also earned the trust of biotech investors. In a time when the global biotech investment sentiment remains subdued, Swiss biotech companies annually invest more than CHF 2.5 billion in their R&D pipeline. In 2025 they attracted close to CHF 2.6 billion in new funds, and privately financed biotech companies reached a new record, attracting CHF 1.15 billion.

On behalf of all the partners of the Swiss Biotech Report 2026, I invite you to dive into the articles in this year's report that address the main topic "talent and tenacity" from their different perspectives. They discuss how the Swiss talent pool benefits from the dual education system blending vocational training with elite academic pathways (CSEM article), and how the talent ecosystem extends from academia, to translational research and clinical development, all the way to market access and the support of international headquarters (SNSF article and S-GE article). Thereby, the know-how of the talent pools spans all modalities and disease indications, including the rapidly growing and converging market segments of diagnostics, healthtech, and industrial biotech applications (see SATW and scienceindustries articles). By forging international alliances, biotech innovators based in Switzerland are addressing unmet global needs and helping to shape the future of healthcare.

"Developing, attracting and retaining talent is a cornerstone of Switzerland's innovation success and its ability to build international collaborations and alliances."

— Michael Altorfer