The Swiss Entrepreneurial Ecosystem Report 2015/16 has been released

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31.03.2016

The Start-up Monitor Foundation has published a report about the Swiss entrepreneurial ecosystem in collaboration with the Global Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation at the University of St.Gallen and the Commission for Technology and Innovation (CTI). The report provides an in-depth analysis of the entrepreneurial ecosystem and entrepreneurial activities in Switzerland.

Switzerland is one of the world’s most innovative countries: An excellent education system, leading research institutions, availability of funding for research and development, and close collaboration between the industry, academia and politics to bring innovations to the market. However, despite these favorable conditions, Swiss entrepreneurial activities are not at the desired level, yet. Dietmar Grichnik, Professor for Entrepreneurship at the University of St.Gallen (HSG) who holds the scientific lead of the Start-up Monitor Foundation states: “There is still much work to be done to increase the commercialization of innovation and built globally scalable high-growth ventures and thus, turn Switzerland into an internationally recognized Start-up Nation.”

Promoting and stimulating entrepreneurship is a difficult and challenging issue, given that several non-entrepreneurial and entrepreneurial factors need to be considered simultaneously. Therefore, it is important to understand the underlying conditions that entrepreneurs face in particular countries, regions or industries in order to establish a functioning entrepreneurship ecosystem. The Swiss Entrepreneurial Ecosystem Report 2015/2016 analyzes these conditions and provides a first in-depth analysis of entrepreneurial activities in Switzerland.

Switzerland provides very favorable framework conditions for starting a business. It has an attractive market, outstanding infrastructure and an optimal geographic location for creating a new business. However, “Not all entrepreneurship-specific factors in Switzerland are competitive, yet. While entrepreneurial support and visibility score high in comparison to other countries, entrepreneurial culture and venture financing are below average. There is still room for improvement when it comes to boosting growth-oriented entrepreneurship in Switzerland”, says Peter Vogel, Assistant Professor for Technology Entrepreneurship at the University of St.Gallen, and Managing Director of the Start-up Monitor Foundation.

The report examined the sectoral and regional distribution of over 1900 Swiss start-ups and found that ICT is the most prominent sector in the Start-up Monitor and has a particularly strong basis in the Greater Zurich Area (GZA) and Greater Geneva Bern Area (GGBA). Moreover, the report assesses several proxy measures for Swiss entrepreneurial activity. In terms of self-employment (self-employment rate 8-11%) Switzerland ranks in the lower middle range compared to other European and OECD countries. The share of Swiss gazelles, i.e. high-growth enterprises with less than five years of age, is comparatively high. With 0.5% of the population of Swiss firms, the country lies in the midfield with other OECD countries.

A similar picture emerges when considering the intentions to start a business (EI 7.1%) and the Total Entrepreneurship Activity (TEA 7.1%), which both ranks in the mid-range of all European countries. But it is noteworthy that compared to other countries, the conversion rate of people with the intention of starting a business to those who actually start a business is among the highest in the world. When compared internationally, Swiss startups have above-average survival rates. It is thus evident that the result of the assessment of entrepreneurship activity depends strongly on which proxy measure is used.

All in all, entrepreneurship activities in Switzerland tend to be in the midfield globally. While there are signs of substantial activities and more high-impact startups being created in Switzerland, there is still significant room for improvement.

The report can be downloaded from the attachment below.

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