IT & communication technology

Business Destination Switzerland
Introducción

Switzerland’s long-standing focus on education and innovation has made it a leader in some of the most rapidly developing fields: IT and communication technology.

The country’s world-class educational and research institutions have created a large pool of highly skilled, multi-lingual specialists with a track record of international collaboration at the highest level. The result: expertise is transferred swiftly into profitable business products.

Global companies that have taken advantage include Google, Siemens, Dell, Hewlett-Packard, Orange, Microsoft, eBay, T-Systems and Reuters, all of whom have made significant investments here. For them, Switzerland makes the ideal base for research activities as well as sales, customer services and a variety of HQ functions.

Among the many pioneering facilities established recently is the “IMB Research – Zurich” site. Considered by many to be the birthplace of nanotechnology – the manipulation of matter at the molecular scale – it remains at the cutting edge of one of the most promising fields of research.


All about the Business Destination Switzerland

Switzerland is leader

  • Switzerland is one of the world’s leading countries for information and communication technology (ICT). Accounting for approx. 8% of GDP, it ranks third worldwide after Japan and Sweden. Switzerland is home to about 13,500 ICT companies.
  • The World Wide Web was invented at CERN in 1989. The organization decided to keep the Web in the public domain – a decision well in line with Geneva’s international spirit.
  • International companies based in Switzerland include Logitech, which pioneered modern computer mice in the 1980s and whose peripherals are sold worldwide; and SITA, the global leader in air transport communication, which works with almost every airline and airport in the world

Clusters

Geneva

  • The city of Geneva is home to a major cluster, stimulated by the need for secure and efficient information and communication solutions of the many multinationals, banks and international organizations based here.
  • As the home of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), the international organization responsible for coordinating global telecom networks and services with governments and the private sector, and the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), which coordinates expertise and sets standards concerning intellectual property, Geneva has privileged insight into cutting-edge developments in information technology.
  • The European Broadcasting Union, based in Geneva, is the world’s foremost alliance of public service media, with members in 56 countries around Europe and beyond.

Venues for events & visits

  • Various institutions welcome visits – such as CERN, the European Organization for Nuclear Research, near Geneva. Here, physicists and engineers are using the world’s largest and most complex scientific instruments to probe the fundamental structure of the universe.

Speakers

  • International bodies such as ITU and WIPO and facilities such as “IBM Research – Zurich” are among many institutions that can provide speakers for events and share know-how.

Factsheet Switzerland Global Enterprise