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0 Executive Summary
Switzerland, a country that supports neutrality, where designed to ensure external security and
promote peace. Switzerland also is a nation that are prosperous and modern market economy
with low unemployment rate, a highly skilled labour force, and among the highest a per capita
GDP in the world.

Switzerland's economy grow tremendously depending on the service sectors, where led by
financial services, and a manufacturing industry that specializes in high technology, knowledge-
based production. Its economic and political stability, transparent legal system, exceptional
infrastructure, efficient capital markets, and low corporate tax rates makes Switzerland becoming
one of the world's most competitive economies.

Due to lacking of natural resources as result from the country’s small and highly fragmented
internal market, early on Swiss companies also had to target for foreign markets for their goods
& services, and they had tirelessly to make themselves be productive enough to compete
internationally. Besides that, within Switzerland there are several clusters have gained worldwide
recognition. Among them, the Basel Pharma Cluster represents one of the most important
economic areas in Switzerland; in fact, a substantial part of the country’s export strength is
rooted in the pharma industry.

The origin of the cluster dates back to the late 19th century, when chemical companies decided
to produce synthetic medicines; at that time, the world-famous big pharma company Roche
emerged. Later on they are growing strongly until the early 21st century the cluster is now
standing on a cross road that will decide about revival or decline as current industry trends and
increasing competition from other clusters represent opportunities, as well as threats. Due to the
clusters importance throughout the history a highly dynamic environment has evolved, with
specialized cluster participants that reduce transaction costs and foster innovativeness

Innovativeness is the key success-driver in the knowledge intensive pharma industry, where the
ability to leverage future trends such as digital healthcare and increasingly sophisticated demand
in emerging markets decides about success or failure. However, in absolute comparison with the
leading pharma clusters in San Francisco & Boston the Basel cluster performs weak in terms of
innovation, mainly due to its size.
Not only does the connection to the broader Life Science (LS) cluster - spanning parts of
Germany, France and Switzerland - need to be further enhanced through collaboration with the
BioValley Cluster Organization ito keep up with demand trends, but a new cluster organization
also needs to be established. The recommended DigiValley cluster organization aims to connect
the Basel Pharma Cluster with the ICT clusters in Bern & Zürich in order to make the Basel
cluster one of the outstanding areas for digital healthcare

An increasing connection to the LS and tech clusters in combination with a stronger start-up
footprint will increase cluster dynamism, the flow of knowledge, mobility of employees and,
finally, also the innovativeness; an emerging start-up scene in the field of digital healthcare
benefits large companies that seek innovative healthcare solutions and will make Basel the
leading pharma cluster in Europe
Switzerland Country Analysis
Geographical Location
Switzerland is a located in the center of Europe; where Switzerland bridges the northern parts of
Central Europe (Germany, Netherlands, Belgium) with the Mediterranean area (Italy & Southern
France) makes Switzerland becoming a landlocked country geographically divided between the
Alps, the Swiss Plateau and the Jura, spanning a total area of 41,285 km2.

Environment

Switzerland has a very diversified landscape and great habitat. The country is well known by the
richness of its natural ecosystems and their proximity to urban centres. Around 30% of
Switzerland's surface area is covered by woodland. The length of watercourses in Switzerland
comes to around 61,000km. The largest share (roughly 11,000km) is found in the canton of
Graubünden. With more than 48 summits higher than 4,000 metres, Switzerland has the most
four-thousanders in Europe. Switzerland has over 120 glaciers and 12 UNESCO World Heritage
sites.

Switzerland has a dense network of hiking trails, totalling over 65,000 km in length, or one and
half times the circumference of the earth. Switzerland has a mean elevation of 1,307 metres.
Around 23%of the country's surface area is at an altitude of over 2,000m. Protected areas of
national importance cover roughly 23% of Switzerland’s surface area. Agricultural areas make
up roughly 36% of Switzerland’s surface area.

Demography

In 2018, The Swiss population of approximately exceeding 8.5 million people and is
concentrated mostly on the plateau, where the largest cities are to be found: among them are the
two global cities and economic centres Zürich and Geneva. As of 2018, resident foreigners made
up to 25% of the population, one of the largest proportions in the developed world. Switzerland
well known for its independence and neutrality becoming the most solid reason for people from
other countries moved to reside in Switzerland. It is one of the Europe’s nations that with the
highest proportion of foreign residents which is up to date approximately of 2.1 million people.

Switzerland has four national languages mainly are German (spoken by 63% of the population in
2017); French (22.7%) in the west; and Italian (8.1%) in the south. The fourth official language,
Romansh (0.5%), is a Romansh language spoken locally in the south eastern trilingual canton of
Graubünden, and is designated by Article 4 of the Federal Constitution as a national language
along with German, French, and Italian, and in Article 70 as an official language if the
authorities communicate with persons who speak Romansh. English, although it is not an official
language, is often used to bridge the divides, and a significant proportion of official
documentation is available in English.

Human Development

According to Human Development Indices and Indicators: 2018 Statistical Update (UNDP,
2018), Switzerland’s 2017 HDI of 0.944 is above the average of 0.894 for countries in the very
high human development group and above the average of 0.895 for countries in OECD. From
OECD, countries which are close to Switzerland in 2017 HDI rank and to some extent in
population size are Austria and Finland, which have HDIs ranked 20 and 15 respectively. This
mean Switzerland has the second highest life expectancy after Japan, of all countries in the
world.

Economy

The currency of Switzerland is the Swiss franc. One Swiss franc is equal to 100 centimes. It is
abbreviated to CHF, SFr. or Fr. Switzerland has a stable modern market economy with low
unemployment and a highly skilled labour force. Switzerland has the second highest gross
domestic product (GDP) per capita in the world. In 2017, Swiss GDP per capita stood at USD
80,189.70. And it has the 20th highest GDP in the world with total of 678.9 billion USD. About
74% of Swiss GDP is generated by the service sector and 25% by industry. The contribution
from the agricultural sector is less than 1%.

In recent years, the country has brought its economic practices largely into conformity with the
European Union’s to enhance international competitiveness. Around 78% of Swiss imports are
from the EU, while 43% of Swiss exports are destined for EU countries. Most Swiss firms (over
99%) are small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). These are defined as companies with
fewer than 250 employees. The public debt-to-GDP ratio in Switzerland has fallen considerably
in recent years, from 54.6% in 1998 to 34.7% in 2014.
Switzerland has the lowest rate of value-added tax in Europe. 8% is levied on most goods and
services, 3.8% on accommodation services, and 2.5% on basic necessities and other everyday
items. Every year Switzerland spends close to 3% of its GDP, more than 20.6 billion USD, on
research and development. Over three-quarters of this funding comes from the private sector.

Political

Switzerland is a federal republic with three different political levels, including the Confederation,
the cantons, and the communes. The Confederation has authority in all areas in which it is
empowered by the Federal Constitution, such as foreign and security policy, customs and
monetary affairs, protection of the environment, forests, fishery and hunting, and protection of
animals.

The Confederation is structured as a Federal Assembly, which consists of the National Council
and the Council of States. The President, who is both the chief of state and the head of
government, is elected annually by the Federal Assembly. The Federal Assembly has a total of
246 members, who are directly elected by the people. Switzerland has a bicameral parliament:
The National Council (200 members) and The Council of States (46 members).

There are 26 cantons, and each canton has its own constitution, parliament, government and
courts. The Federal Constitution also delineates the powers of the cantons, including zoning
(Article 75), and natural and cultural heritage (Article 78). Sustainable Development is a joint
responsibility, whereby “The Confederation and the Cantons shal strive to establish a durable
equilibrium between nature, in particular its capacity to renew itself, and its use by man” (Swiss
Federal Government 1999, Article 73). Lastly, there are 2222 communes as per on January 2018,
in another meaning of communes is municipalities are the lowest level of administrative division
in Switzerland. Each municipality is part of one of the Swiss cantons, which form the Swiss
Confederation.

As a country that practicing direct democracy where Direct democracy it is a form of democracy
in which people decide on policy initiatives directly. This differs from the majority of most
currently established democracies, which are representative democracies. Hence in Switzerland,
there are 15 political parties are represented in the Swiss parliament. Those parties with the
largest share of the popular vote are represented on the Federal Council. Some 5.3 million
citizens, roughly 63% of the total population, are eligible to vote at federal level. This right is
granted to all Swiss nationals on reaching the age of majority which is at age of 18 in
Switzerland.

Technology & Infrastructure

Switzerland has a comprehensive and extensive road system and efficient rail network and with
lots of tunnels to compensate for the mountainous terrain. In total there are 71,059 kilometres of
roadways and 4,492 kilometres of rail lines. For Air transportation, There are 2 main
international airports which is at Zürich and Geneva and few other smaller airports with either
domestic not international connections.

Switzerland’s education system reflects the country’s federal structure. The 26 cantons are
responsible for compulsory education, whereas the cantons and the Confederation share
responsibilities for continuing education (vocational training, upper-secondary schooling,
universities and professional education and training). Switzerland’s unique two-tier education
system encourage young people to start gaining practical experience from the age of 15 years
old. This system is very helpful for those industries that needs practical/clinical experiences such
as in the mechanical & electrical engineering or even Life Science industries, where trained
professionals are hard to find. It also means that many students working at obtaining a Masters or
PhD in the ICT field come to their studies often with over five years of hands-on work
experience in that field. Not forget to mention are Switzerland is the most prolific producer of
publications in the world, with 3.6 publications per 1000 inhabitants.

In terms of technology, Switzerland is one of the most dynamic countries worldwide in terms of
research activity. Switzerland invests close to 3.4% of its GDP in research and development
(R&D). It is also among the countries with the highest spending on R&D in relation to GDP.
With these efforts, Switzerland became heaven of ICT related industries. For example, with the
world's fifth fastest internet connection (and the second fastest in Europe), Swiss
telecommunications companies know that ever faster speeds and increased broadband give them
the edge. knowledge infrastructure provides Switzerland with a solid foundation for being a
world leader in the new economy.
With having one of the best education systems in the world, the are proudly owned two of the
best research institutions in the world, namely the Swiss Federal Institutes of Technology in
Zürich and in Lausanne, Swiss secondary education works hand in hand with the private sector
to provide students with both the well-founded theoretical knowledge and the practical skills
needed in today’s competitive ICT environment. In fact, in the past twenty years, the ETH has
had more than 300 spin-off companies come out - and ICT companies lead the way.

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Human Development Indices and Indicators: 2018 Statistical Update (UNDP, 2018),