Every year, dozens of new companies launch into innovative processes. In order to cater for these companies, Western Switzerland has an unequalled concentration of technology parks. Below are a few examples:
The PSE Science Park, immediately adjacent to the innovation sources that are the EPFL and the UNIL, favours the emergence and development of hi-tech companies at the heart of Western Switzerland’s new economy.
Y-PARC, the Yverdon Science and Technology Park is one of the largest of its kind in Switzerland. Spread over an area of 500,000 m2, it brings together more than a hundred companies overflowing with hi-tech ideas. A valuable crossroad of competences, Y-PARC facilitates promising synergies.
The Microcity innovation platform in Neuchatel and La Chaux-de-Fonds, at the heart of a highly productive industrial region and equipped with first-class installations for education and R&D, accommodates start-ups and small companies active in the fields of micro- and nanotechnologies.
Spread over 70,000 m2, the Technology Park of St-Imier brings together institutes, start-ups and medium-size companies specialized in microtechnologies and precision industries (in particular medical engineering and watchmaking). Situated on this site, the multi-discipline institute TTNovatech smoothes the way to technology transfer and R&D, while the Institut de Microtechniques Industrielles, IMI-Arc, offers its laboratories and equipment.
With a structure devoted to innovation and company creation in the canton of Jura, CREAPOLE assists companies starting up economic activities and/or promotes the process of innovation and the transfer of technology.
FRI UP, a Fribourg-based non-profit-making association, advises start-ups and helps small established companies to develop and reinforce their activities, productivity and innovation potential. In addition, FRI UP helps to turn projects into reality. FRI UP uses a process of synergies, on a national scale, between the economic world, higher education and the state.
In Geneva, the ECLOSION Park helps entrepreneurs procure the resources necessary for passing from the laboratory stage of a project to the realization phase. With private venture capital – up to CHF 2 million – ECLOSION is able to accompany new innovative companies with a strong potential in the field of life sciences (pharmaceuticals, biotechnology, medical technology…).
A foundation for innovation, THE ARK supports and coordinates the installation, emergence and growth of companies in Valais. By providing a suitable environment, it encourages economic actors in Valais to demonstrate their creativity and potential for innovation. THE ARK provides help under three headings: “Incubator”, “Accelerator” and “Innovation”, targeted services for supporting innovation in life sciences, information and communication, and engineering.
Above Yverdon, covering an area of 10,000 m2, the Technopôle de Sainte-Croix is host to the only centre of competence in Switzerland dedicated to micro-soldering and related technology.
