immo!nvest – Die Plattform für Standorte und Immobilien

Tag: Wirtschaftsregion

  • Reorganisation of location promotion in Schlieren

    Reorganisation of location promotion in Schlieren

    Christina Doll will take over as head of location promotion in the city of Schlieren from 1 December. According to a city press release, the 44-year-old will take over the position from Albert Schweizer, who is retiring after 27 years with the city.

    The change of position is linked to an intensification of location promotion. Christina Doll will perform the function in an 80 per cent position. Her predecessor Schweizer filled the position with 30 per cent in addition to his work as property manager. The city council believes that the increase in working hours is necessary “to successfully develop Schlieren as a business location”. In future, companies should have a direct contact person for their concerns.

    The economic geographer with a degree from the University of Hanover is considered to be well connected thanks to her many years of experience in location promotion. Most recently, she made a name for herself as deputy managing director in the development of the Zurich airport region as an economic network and location development organisation. As a part-time guest lecturer at various universities, the 44-year-old has taught how organisations can better exploit their development potential through participatory methods and the use of collective intelligence. She is the winner of the scholarship for the EMBA Digital Leadership at the Zurich School of Business 2022.

  • New companies strengthen life sciences in the Basel region

    New companies strengthen life sciences in the Basel region

    Basel Area Business & Innovation, the agency for location promotion and innovation promotion, supported a total of 36 companies with their relocation in 2024. According to its annual report, 26 of these are active in the life sciences. The companies come from 16 countries, 24 from Europe and six each from the USA and Asia.

    In his press release on this annual report, Christof Klöpper, CEO of Basel Area Business & Innovation, emphasises that his agency’s efforts to expand the life sciences industry to the entire economic region are bearing fruit: “Foreign companies that settle here are increasingly choosing the cantons of Basel-Landschaft and Jura as a location in addition to Basel-Stadt. This enriches our life sciences cluster immensely.”

    This is thanks to the expansion of innovation areas such as the Switzerland Innovation Park Basel Area with its three sites in Allschwil BL, Novartis Campus and Jura. It is also pleasing that companies from other sectors, such as ICT, are increasingly settling in such innovation areas. The press release also mentions that Basel Area Business & Innovation was ranked number one among smaller European cities in February 2025 by fDi, the investment portal of the Financial Times, in its Top 10 rankings of European Cities and Regions of the Future 2025.

    Overall, the number of new companies founded last year was slightly lower than the previous year at 67, but remains in line with the long-term average. The location promoter describes the track record of the two local start-up incubators BaseLaunch and DayOne as impressive. Investments totalling 478 million were channelled into start-ups that were supported by them. According to the companies that set up or founded in 2024, they aim to create more than 700 additional jobs in five years.

  • Basel receives multi-billion euro immune research institute

    Basel receives multi-billion euro immune research institute

    The Botnar Foundation has donated one billion Swiss francs to establish the Botnar Institute of Immune Engineering (BIIE). This institute will be located in Basel, more precisely in Allschwil, and aims to develop novel immune-based solutions for the diagnosis, treatment and prevention of diseases. The BIIE is being set up in collaboration with the University of Oxford and ETH Zurich, with other international partners to follow.

    Strategic choice of location and expansion plans
    The research centre in Basel was able to prevail over renowned locations in the USA, England, Israel and Singapore. By 2027, the BIIE will move into its own building in the Switzerland Innovation Park Basel Area in Allschwil, which is being designed by Herzog & de Meuron. For the time being, the institute is housed in the Department of Biosystems Science and Engineering at ETH Zurich in Basel. It is planned that a total of 300 employees, including scientists and support staff, will work at the institute.

    Priorities and international collaborations
    BIIE will focus on the development of computer tools and immune-based solutions. Together with the University of Oxford, the Basel-Oxford Centre of Immune Engineering will be established, which will include professorships and training programmes for students. This collaboration will advance basic and clinical research, particularly for children and adolescents in poorer countries.

    Leading personalities and administration
    Stephen Wilson, former Chief Operating Officer of the La Jolla Institute for Immunology, will serve as CEO of BIIE. Sai Reddy, Professor of Systems and Synthetic Immunology at ETH Zurich, will serve as Scientific Director. Georg Holländer, an expert in molecular developmental immunology with professorships at the University of Basel, ETH Zurich and the University of Oxford, will assume the position of Global Engagement Director.

    Significant upgrade for Basel as a research centre
    The establishment of the BIIE represents a significant upgrade for Basel as a research centre. The site complements existing research groups at the D-BSSE and the Department of Biomedicine at the University of Basel and strengthens the region, which is already home to over 40 biotech and pharmaceutical companies in the field of immunology.

    Huge benefit for the Basel region
    “The BIIE will bring together a critical mass of researchers who are all experts in different aspects of immune engineering. The combination of their strengths and perspectives should result in a sum that is greater than its parts,” explains Stephen Wilson. Conradin Cramer, President of the Government of the Canton of Basel-Stadt, emphasises the importance of the institute for the region: “Basel as a strong economic region with a great philanthropic tradition will be further strengthened by the BIIE.”

    Christof Klöpper, CEO of Basel Area Business & Innovation, sees the BIIE as an enormous gain for the region: “Our life sciences location will not only be expanded by an important field of research, but will also strengthen its position on the global map of the most important research locations.”

    The generous donation from the Botnar Foundation and the collaboration with leading international institutions such as the University of Oxford and ETH Zurich position the Botnar Institute of Immune Engineering as a central institution in immune research. The new institute will further establish Basel as a top global centre for life sciences and enable significant advances in immune-based diagnostics and therapy.

  • Basel Area location promotion posts record number of company start-ups

    Basel Area location promotion posts record number of company start-ups

    Basel Area Business & Innovation supported a total of 96 start-ups in 2022. This represents a new record, the location promotion agency of the cantons of Basel-Stadt, Basel-Landschaft and Jura informs in a statement. Compared to the previous year, 20 more start-ups were supported by Basel Area Business & Innovation.

    The number of companies newly established in the Basel Area cantons in 2022 remained stable at 35 compared to 2021. “The Basel Area economic region has had another highly satisfactory year,” Christof Klöpper, CEO of Basel Area Business & Innovation, is quoted as saying in the statement. “Both in terms of newly established companies and company start-ups, we achieved excellent figures in 2022.”

    Of the total of 96 newly founded companies, 21 are active in the pharmaceutical and medical sectors. This is followed by services with 18, construction with eleven and ICT with ten start-ups. Many of the start-ups were able to benefit from the location promotion’s venture monitoring programme. In the press release, Basel Area Business & Innovation singles out the cleantech company Kuori. Since its founding in spring 2022, it has already raised around 2.3 million euros in investor funding.

    Of the total of 35 settlements, 24 were in the pharmaceutical and medical sectors. In terms of regions of origin, Europe leads the way with 14 companies. This is followed by Asia with seven and the USA with six newly established companies in Switzerland. A total of eight companies from other cantons moved to the Basel Area last year.

  • Location Promotion Zurich Oberland publishes magazine

    Location Promotion Zurich Oberland publishes magazine

    The Zürioberland Promotional Agency ( SZO ) will publish a magazine twice a year from October 2022. The initial edition consists of 5000 copies. The high-quality magazine aims to offer portraits, background reports and handouts on the living and economic region of the Zurich Oberland.

    "The magazine strengthens the voice of the region and focuses in particular on the qualities of the Zurich Oberland," Giacinto In-Albon, Head of Business at SZO, is quoted as saying in a press release. According to the publisher SZO, its topics should offer “a counterpoint to the fast-moving and predominantly digital information of today”. The magazine is produced and printed in Wetzikon. A partner in Gossau is responsible for marketing. It is financed through the sale of advertisements. Members receive preferential prices.

    The magazine is distributed in the Zurich Oberland region, Winterthur, Lake Zurich, Obersee and in the city of Zurich. It is sent in a targeted manner. It will also be available in high-traffic locations such as hotels, restaurants, shops and medical practices. In addition, every newcomer receives a copy.

  • Bachenbülach joins Zurich airport region

    Bachenbülach joins Zurich airport region

    The municipality of Bachenbülach has decided to join the business and location development Zurich Airport Region ( FRZ ). This increases the number of participating cities and municipalities to 14, according to a press release . Most recently, Volketswil joined the FRZ network.

    According to the press release, the municipal council considers membership of the FRZ to be “beneficial for the municipality, the population of Bachenbülach and the entire economic region around Zurich Airport”. The community has “grown a lot” in recent years, to 4221 inhabitants.

    In addition to the cities and municipalities and their total of 185,000 inhabitants, around 750 companies belong to the FRZ network. They have around 250,000 jobs. The FRZ is celebrating its tenth anniversary this year.