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SWITZERLAND Basel: Life Sciences Hub Basel has grown to become Europe’s life sciences hub, home to some of the world’s most successful pharmaceuticals giants as well as smaller enterprises in the pharmaceuticals, chemicals and biotechnology industries which are providing a wide range of products and services. Basel is the hub of the BioValley region, which now has over 900 life sciences companies. Basel’s advantages as a life sciences centre are its long history of achievement in life sciences; a supportive business environment; high quality of life; well-established research and development activities in life sciences; exceptional human resources; and a strategic location bordering Germany and France. The nonprofit BioValley Basel organisation works to promote the local life sciences sector and to provide networking opportunities. According to BioValley Basel, around one in ten employees in the Basel region is employed in the life sciences sector, whether as a researcher, technician, lawyer, manager, bus driver, plant worker, university professor or student. Around 1,000 to 2,000 new jobs are created in the local life sciences sector every year, and life sciences companies in the Basel area achieve a combined annual turnover of over €75.2 billion. Global giants Novartis and Roche based in Basel One of the prominent leaders in Basel’s life sciences sector is Novartis, founded and based in Basel and now the third largest pharmaceuticals company in the world. Novartis employs 12,000 people in Switzerland and generates more than 40,000 related jobs, mainly in the Canton of Basel. Daniel Vasella, Chairman and CEO, notes that the Basel area is becoming increasingly important as a hub for pharmaceuticals research and development. Novartis opened its state-of-the-art Novartis Campus in Basel as a means of encouraging further groundbreaking R&D. The Novartis mission statement explains, “Novartis is designing our global headquarters in Basel, Switzerland, as an inspiring environment that fosters innovation and business excellence.” In 2008 alone, Novartis boosted its R&D budget by 12% to reach €5.41 billion, one of the highest R&D investments relative to sales (over 17%) in the industry. Novartis was created in 1996 through the merger of Ciba-Geigy and Sandoz; the original Ciba, Geigy and Sandoz were all founded in Basel. Roche, founded in Basel in 1896 by young entrepreneur Fritz Hoffmann-La Roche, has grown to become a multinational pharmaceuticals enterprise known for the pioneering role it plays in healthcare. An innovator of products and services for the early detection, prevention, diagnosis and treatment of many diseases, Roche’s mission is to create added value in healthcare by focusing on its expertise in diagnostics and pharmaceuticals. Roche is the world leader in in-vitro diagnostics and in drugs for cancer, transplants and other conditions. Roche employs over 80,000 people in 150 countries. In Basel, Roche employs around 1,200 highly skilled professionals in its Basel Pharma Research Centre, which focuses its research on the central nervous system as well as on metabolic and vascular diseases, especially on type two diabetes, which the World Health Organisation ranks as one of the most challenging health problems of the 21st century. The focus of the centre’s research on the central nervous system is on Alzheimer’s disease and depression, two diseases which affect millions of patients. Schizophrenia and anxiety are additional fields of scientific focus. Dynamic local players Basel’s life sciences sector benefits from close ties between research facilities and business. The University of Basel’s Life Sciences Training Facility (LSTF) is dedicated to the study of DNA and RNA at the level of the entire genome, and for seven years the LSTF has been providing to the research community access and training to an Affymetrix platform and related instrumentation and software. LSTF has recently implemented the latest Affymetrix GeneChip technology for genome-wide genotyping (SNP 500K and 6.0 Arrays) and gene expression (Gene-level and Exonlevel Arrays). Small and medium-sized companies dominate Basel’s life sciences sector. As Martin Neff, Head of Economic Research at Credit Suisse, points out, “The life sciences sector is firmly in the hands of small and medium-sized companies. Even though Novartis and Roche together 52
Cantons of Basel obviously have by far the most employees, over 90% of Basel’s life sciences companies are SMEs. And, when put together, the value of these for the region is not to be underestimated.” One local success story is Sovias AG, which is well known for its innovative scientific and technical services for customers in the chemicals and pharmaceuticals industries. The company aims to open new offices in the Canton of Basel (in Kaiseraugst) this year. The Life Sciences Network Basel organises networking events for professionals in local life sciences companies; a recent event focused on mergers and acquisitions in the pharmaceuticals industry. For life sciences companies and the professionals who work for them, the Canton of Basel is the ideal base for business. 53
Page 1 and 2: SWITZerLAnd
Page 3 and 4: Content Switzerland Introduction
Page 5 and 6: Stone bridge in Giornico it is focu
Page 7 and 8: Introduction Regional organisation
Page 9 and 10: Jacques de Watteville, Swiss Ambass
Page 11 and 12: Canton of Berne Sustainable Develop
Page 13 and 14: Canton of Berne Bern Bernese Alps a
Page 15 and 16: Swiss National Bank Strong Financia
Page 17 and 18: Canton of Berne BEKB | BCBE Creatin
Page 19 and 20: Canton of Berne The canton’s poli
Page 21 and 22: Canton of Berne are typical of the
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Page 27 and 28: Canton of Berne Model of the new nu
Page 29 and 30: Canton of Berne One of Switzerland
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Page 33 and 34: Canton of Vaud Vaud: Innovation, Re
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Page 37 and 38: Lake Geneva Canton of Vaud: Home of
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Page 45 and 46: Canton of Geneva Geneva: Warm Welco
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Page 73 and 74: Canton of Zurich Business traveller
Page 75 and 76: Upcoming Projects: The European Tim

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