Swiss companies among global leaders on research spending

The Roche towers in Basel: Roche is the highest-ranked European company in the research spending ranking, coming eighth Keystone/gaetan Bally

Fourteen Swiss companies are among the world’s top 500 when it comes to expenditure on research and development, according to a ranking by consultants EY.

Overall, Switzerland is in ninth place globally, thanks to illustrious names such as Roche, Novartis, Nestlé, ABB and Swatch.

In terms of the number of companies in the top 500, Switzerland is practically on a par with the United Kingdom, the study revealedExternal link on Thursday.

“This is an expression of the strength of Switzerland as a research location. This is due in particular to the availability of human resources in research and development and the proximity to the world’s leading technical universities,” said Stefan Rösch-Rütsche, managing partner of EY in Switzerland.

Measured by total expenditure, Switzerland is even higher up. With the equivalent of €33 billion (CHF32.3 billion), the country is in fifth place. The US tops the ranking with the equivalent of €475 billion, quite some way ahead of Japan (€87 billion) and Germany (€68 billion).

Too focused on health

“In principle, this is a positive sign for Switzerland as a business location. The framework conditions for investments in research and development are still considered attractive,” Rösch-Rütsche said.

“At the same time, however, it must be noted that investments in Switzerland have increased by 5%, which is significantly less than the investments of the Top 500, which have increased by 14%. In addition, these investments focus too one-sidedly on the health sciences sector.”

In other promising sectors, especially in the technology sector, Switzerland is not among the leaders.