Canton of Zurich,

where sustainability and development meet

The Canton of Zurich is renewed for its business background, as the Swiss core of stock-market, and for its luxury shops. But What if it represents much more than this? Canton of Zurich reveals its clusters and green heart.

The canton of Zurich spreads out over 1,729 square kilometres including the Feuerthalen commune in the North, the Hütten commune in the South, the Fischenthal commune in the East and the Niederweningen commune in the West. Zurich is Switzerland’s most populous canton thanks to a population of 1,9 million. The metropolitan area of Zurich is often classifi ed as of the “European engine”. This classification due to different features that distinguishes the area (economic performances , decision-making processes and controlling functions, innovation, international transports and so on) as a place of primary importance at European level as well as at Swiss level. The high quantity of workplaces due also to the presence in the region of various clusters, condition that clearly illustrate the economic breadth of Zurich Canton. Amongst other things, this sector diversity contributed to cushioning the most recent economic crisis. A brief introduction of each significant cluster follows.

FINANCIAL SERVICES - The financial services cluster does not only include banks and insurances, but also specialised financial services providers.

Of the people employed in the fi nancial sector throughout Switzerland, about 40% can be attributed to the financial centre of Zurich. The financial and economic crisis resulted in major changes in the financial sector throughout the world. Switzerland and Zurich did not emerge unscathed from this crisis. Nevertheless, the situation is better than in many competing locations.

The financial sector is very heterogeneous as regards company structures and its orientation towards local or international markets and clients. From global players like the major banks Credit Suisse and UBS, the re-insurer Swiss Re, the insurer Zurich Financial Services to niche providers (that offer social investments for instance) through to the locally oriented trustee, a suitable financial services provider can be found for every client in the Zurich area. Several education institutions, various associations and interest groups supplement the cluster.

The Cluster is highly involved in continuous research and activities, that also imply a high commitment about its activities accountability. This is carried out through a high informational flow of news, where information about accomplishments are published and accessible by the audience. For example in 2009 - 2012 the website of the Zurich financial centre at www.finanzplatz-zuerich.ch was newly designed, providing information on regulation and supervision of the financial centre as well as on the broad range of training in the specialist area of banking, finance and insurance. Since 2010 the “Portrait of the fi nancial centre of Zurich” is also available. The Business and Economic Development Division of the Canton of Zurich as well as the city will continue cluster activities in the future, guaranteeing a safe area where to act both for Swiss and foreigners characters.

LIFE SCIENCES - The Zurich economic area can look back on a long tradition as a medical technology location, but has also managed to position itself as an internationally leading knowledge and business location in the life sciences area over the past decades. This fact is illustrated by the high concentration of innovative companies, the growing number of promising spin-offs from the university area and numerous regional head offi ces and representations of international life sciences corporations based in the Zurich metropolitan area.

Attributed to life sciences are the experimental natural sciences (bio- logy, chemistry and physics) with integrated methods of mathematics and computer science as well as clinical medicine. Biotechnology - or the use of organisms and cells - plays a central role in health care, in agriculture, in nutrition and in environmental sciences. In the health care sector, in particular, there is still lots of potential, be it economic or in the implementation of findings from basic research in the fields of medicine, products and services. Life sciences companies are primarily active in the areas of pharmaceuticals, biotechnology, medical technology and food technology. Medical technology is the main group within the life sciences sector in the canton of Zurich. More than 40% of employees and about 20% of companies are active in this group. A comparison with selected cantons shows that there are more workplaces employed in the life sciences field in Zurich than in Berne, Basel or the Bassin L.manique, Even if Canton Bern is celebrated for its medical cluster, Zurich is the ideal headquarter for new companies which are mainly established in the university environment (spin-off). The majority of these biotechnology and medical technology companies are still in the research & development phase. This means that a lot of innovative potential is created, but so far this has minor impact on value added and employment figures.

ICT FIELD - The ICT generated 5.5% of Zurich’s GDP in 2008. The number of jobs rose by nearly 10% in three years. The high proportion of services is striking. Over the last years Zurich has established itself as a real ICT centre. And the signifi cance of the sector continues to grow. According to the Swiss workforce survey, about 30% of all computer experts in Zurich are employed by banks and insurance companies. Even though the fi nancial sector absorbs a considerable number of ICT experts there is as well a high number of highly innovative SMEs in Zurich. For instance doodle a startup founded by an ETH graduate. Or the game growing number of game developers like Giants Software that developed the award winning farming simulator. Not only the outstanding quality of life but also the availability of qualifi ed workforce and the top-class education attracted global players such Google, Microsoft

and Disney Research to Zurich. Since the ICT market is set to lose thousands of qualified workers through retyrement one of the focal points for the coming years will be the availability of qualifi ed workforce.

A further focal topic will remain the innovation or technology transfer, so that even more start-ups can emerge from the university environment in the future and existing companies can design their business processes more efficiently. Due to the high density of ICT networks and organizations, the Division of Business and Economic Development will continue to accompany and support projects predominantly from these areas.

Full Reportage on S2B MAGAZINE | 02 | 2012 | 10-19

OUR CONTACTS

STANDORTFÖRDERUNG DES KANTONS ZÜRICH

Amt für Wirtschaft und Arbeit (AWA)

Volkswirtschaftsdirektion - Postfach 8090 Zürich (CH)

Tel. +41 (0) 43 259 26 13

Fax +41 (0) 43 259 51 71

standort@vd.zh.ch

www.standort.zh.ch