immo!nvest – Die Plattform für Standorte und Immobilien

Tag: Wirtschaftsentwicklung

  • Network Switzerland elects new members to the board

    Network Switzerland elects new members to the board

    According to a press release, the Netzwerk Standort Schweiz has renewed its board. Christina Doll and Andreas Zettel were elected to the board on 18 March. Christina Doll has been the business development officer for the town of Schlieren since 2025. Prior to this, she spent around ten years helping to develop the Zurich Airport region, amongst other roles. Andreas Zettel has been Head of Business Development since 2015 and Deputy Head of Lucerne Economic Development since 2020.

    The two new members replace Albert Schweizer and Jasmina Ritz. Schweizer was Schlieren’s first location promoter and co-founded Netzwerk Standort Schweiz – then known as the Swiss Association for Location Management – in 1998. He has also been a member of its board since 2007. Jasmina Ritz was the first Managing Director of Limmatstadt AG, the cross-cantonal location promotion agency in the Limmat Valley. She has also been a member of the board of Netzwerk Standort Schweiz since 2022. Since the beginning of March, she has been Managing Director of SwissFoundations, the association of Swiss grant-making foundations.

    The spring event organised by Netzwerk Standort Schweiz also addressed the changing landscape of location competition. “Whilst major economic blocs are putting pressure on one another through tariffs, massive support programmes and technological races, and military conflicts are creating new uncertainties, location competition is also entering a new phase,” Remo Daguati, President of Netzwerk Standort Schweiz, is quoted as saying in the press release.

    Vassiliki Riesen, Head of Economic and Location Promotion in Köniz, highlighted the consequences for Switzerland’s largest agglomeration municipality. She demonstrated how location promotion initiatives can respond to different stakeholder groups whilst also collaborating with numerous partners within the municipality and the canton.

    André Guedel, Director of International Business Development at KPMG, highlighted how the new competition is affecting Switzerland as a business location through both taxation and subsidies, and how companies are responding to this.

    Netzwerk Standort Schweiz is the umbrella organisation for location and business promotion agencies. Its current membership of around 110 comprises organisations active in location promotion, regional marketing, business development, site development, spatial planning and the property sector.

  • First consultation on location promotion

    First consultation on location promotion

    For the first time, the dispatch on location promotion will be submitted to a consultation procedure, which will run until 1 June 2026. For the years 2028-2031, the Federal Council is requesting five financing decisions amounting to CHF 392.21 million, compared to CHF 428.83 million in the period 2024-2027. The instruments remain the same: SME policy, tourism policy, regional policy, export promotion and location promotion. The bottom line is that the budget, adjusted for special Covid payments and the 2027 relief package, will fall by around 5.2 percent.

    Easing the digital burden on SMEs
    One focus is on easing the administrative burden on SMEs by expanding digital government services. The core component is Easy-Gov.swiss, which is to be further developed into a marketplace for digital services from the federal government and cantons and positioned as a standard infrastructure for a “digital government” for companies. The aim is to simplify procedures, reduce duplication and ensure more efficient cooperation between the administration and business.

    Access to international markets
    Export promotion should provide SMEs with targeted support when entering new foreign markets and expanding existing ones. In an environment with increasing export hurdles and volatile framework conditions, there is a greater focus on information, advice, risk diversification and export risk insurance. At the same time, SMEs should be able to make better use of the opportunities offered by new and existing trade agreements.

    Strengthening regions as economic and living spaces
    The federal government wants to support economic development in all parts of the country with its location promotion. It promotes tourism destinations and economically oriented projects in rural and border regions. This enables them to remain attractive places to live and work. In this way, the Federal Council combines growth impulses for SMEs with balanced regional development.

  • New impetus for the Schwarzbubenland region

    New impetus for the Schwarzbubenland region

    The Forum Schwarzbubenland has appointed a new location promotion officer for the districts of Dorneck and Thierstein. According to the association, it has entrusted National Councillor Christian Imark with the mandate. The aim is to better meet the needs of a dynamic economic situation.

    On the one hand, the location promoter should help to attract new companies in order to strengthen the economic base. On the other hand, he is to support local companies in overcoming current challenges and achieving growth. Finally, Imark is to intensify cooperation between business, education and politics.

    “As an experienced personality from politics and business, Christian Imark brings with him the ideal tools to make our region better known, position it successfully and provide new impetus,” Dieter Künzli, President of Forum Schwarzbubenland, is quoted as saying in the press release.

    Christian Imark (born 1982) has been a member of the National Council for the Swiss People’s Party (SVP) since 2015. He is also the owner of Airboxx GmbH, a company based in Fehren SO that specializes in the rental of marquees. The location promotion mandate comprises a 30 percent workload.

    Imark replaces Karoline Sutter, who took over location promotion in 2022. At that time, the mandate still consisted of the location promotion of Schwarzbubenland and the neighboring Baselbieter Laufental. Sutter took over the mandate together with Rita Stoffel-Meury.

  • The profession of location promoter requires explanation

    The profession of location promoter requires explanation

    It is not yet possible to learn the profession of location promoter. However, since the mid-1980s, there have been contact points for economic and commercial matters at local city and even municipal level – formerly known as economic development. In the 1990s, the Winterthur region was known as a pioneer, not least after the decline of industry there.

    So from 1998, as the first location promoter and head of building construction for the city of Schlieren – alongside the cities of Winterthur and Zurich – I was literally out there alone in the wind. However, the real estate backpack I had acquired since 1981 and my MAS Real Estate Management, which I was also one of the first to complete, enabled me to do the balancing act in the niche segment of location promotion. The classics in the job of a location promoter include company relocations, cluster and site development, “one-stop shopping” by the administration for building permits, portfolio management and startup promotion, as well as much more.

    In Switzerland today, primarily each of the 26 cantons has a location promotion program. Unfortunately, not all of the 172 cities and municipalities with more than 10,000 inhabitants have a location promotion office, let alone an economic strategy. There, an internally appointed person in the administration is responsible. In most cases, this is the town clerk or, at most, the president of the town or municipality, more or less voluntarily and not specifically trained for this purpose. However, this also means that I greatly appreciate these municipal management bodies, as well as those of the town of Schlieren, where I can now look back on 28 years of service. Schlieren’s key figures show a very successful picture that is recognized by many parties. The number of legal entities in the town has increased by 100% since 1998, from 650 to 1,388. This also means an increase in jobs from around 12,000 to 21,000. The number of inhabitants has risen by 70% from 12,000 to 20,100. Here I represent the 1:1 situation (inhabitants in relation to jobs) in contrast to other well-known large Swiss cities.

    I would be delighted if, after my retirement, more real estate experts chose the profession of location promoter and also became involved in associations, ERFAS and networks. What is needed is trust in the local location promoters.

  • Stable economic development in Vaud

    Stable economic development in Vaud

    In 2023, the Vaud Economic Development Agency provided financial support for 733 business projects. Support for internationalisation increased by almost 20%, while support for the cleantech sector rose by 23.7%, reflecting the growing importance of innovation in the energy and climate sector. The number of branches of foreign companies remained stable at 28 new branches.

    Network and partnerships
    Isabelle Moret, Head of the Department of Economy, Innovation, Employment and Heritage (DEIEP), emphasises the importance of a strong network: “In 2023, more than a thousand companies and project promoters benefited from the Vaud government’s support measures, particularly in the areas of innovation and sustainability.” These measures supported 3722 jobs.

    Strong growth in the medtech sector
    Vaud start-ups raised CHF 444 million, with 29 of them among the top 100 best start-ups in Switzerland. The medtech sector is particularly noteworthy: 52% of investments in medical technology across Switzerland were channelled into Vaud start-ups.

    Attracting foreign companies
    Innovaud, the agency for the promotion of innovation and foreign investment, supported the establishment of 28 new companies in the canton of Vaud. The life sciences sector had a particularly strong presence, accounting for more than a third of the new companies.

    Promotion of research and development
    The innovation parks in the canton of Vaud were home to a total of 661 companies and 8326 jobs at the end of 2023. The new unlimitrust campus and the expansion of the EPFL Innovation Park with the Ecotope project are examples of growth and support for research and development.

    Support from the Innovation Promotion Fund
    The Innovation Promotion Fund was endowed with an additional CHF 50 million in 2023. This fund supports the Foundation for Technological Innovation (FIT) and various programmes such as Tech4Trust, Trust Valley’s leading acceleration programme for start-ups, and FIT Impact for young projects in the field of impact entrepreneurship.

    Sustainability as a central task
    Sustainability plays a central role in the 2022-2027 legislative planning. The “4-season tourism” framework credit of CHF 50 million aims to improve the quality and sustainability of tourism infrastructure. in 2023, 84 projects totalling almost CHF 4 million were supported to help companies make the transition to sustainability.

    A strong economic ecosystem
    The PESI also supported organisations such as Innovaud, which accompanied 328 companies and contributed to the creation of 31 new companies. Genilem, specialised in project diagnostics and entrepreneurship consulting, supported 24 companies. The Foundation for Technological Innovation (FIT) awarded over CHF 4 million in grants and loans to start-ups.

    Regional economic promotion and territorial advertising
    The regional economic promotion offices supported 712 companies and provided over 1,000 services. Vaud Promotion encouraged 165 local producers to label their products with the VAUD CERTIFIES D’ICI label. The attractiveness for tourists increased by 8.6%, with most visitors coming from Switzerland, France and the USA.

    These comprehensive measures and partnerships emphasise the successful strategy of the Vaud Economic Development Agency, which focuses on sustainability, innovation and strong networks.

  • IFJ develops new offer for municipalities with start.swiss

    IFJ develops new offer for municipalities with start.swiss

    The IFJ Institute for Young Entrepreneurs is launching a new service with start.swiss. According to a press release, the service is aimed at municipalities, cities and economic regions and is designed to track the economic development of all Swiss regions and intensify location promotion. “start.swiss offers a unique welcome and promotion of new companies thanks to daily updated data, an automated hybrid process and local activities. For sustainable, profitable location development,” says the new start.swiss website.

    The Statistics+ service provides statistics on company start-ups, new arrivals, departures and cancellations as well as a breakdown of company start-ups by sector and access to detailed data records.

    The Welcome+ service includes everything from Statistics+, a mailing service of personal welcome letters to company start-ups and relocations as well as a personal welcome website for each company start-up and relocation and individualised lead management of regional offers.

    Activity+ is all about promoting local entrepreneurship. According to the start.swiss website, this involves events and offers, regional networking of people and organisations for sustainable, profitable location promotion.