Switzerland’s first two competence centers for technology transfer, ANAXAM and Swiss m4m Center, have performed well in the two years since they were founded. As detailed in a press release, “elite knowledge and high-quality infrastructure has been made available and a considerable base of partners and customers has been built up” within a short period of time. As part of the federal initiative Advanced Manufacturing Technology Transfer Centers, these two centers are intended to close the gap between laboratory-scale research and industrial applications. They were the first to open and have been operational for around two years
ANAXAM at the Paul Scherrer Institute in Villigen offers SMEs its expertise in the area of high-tech material analytics. The Swiss m4m Center in Bettlach supports companies in the field of additive manufacturing for medical technology.
During an event hosted by the HighTech Zentrum Aargau in the Aarau Culture and Congress Center, Dieter Egli (Aargau Minister of Economic Affairs), Dr. Sebastian Friess (Head of the Department of the Economy at the Office for Economic and Labor Affairs of the Canton of Bern) and Dr. Nicole Schaad (Head of the National Research Department in the State Secretariat for Education, Research and Innovation), emphasized the important role of such competence centers. Three companies that have already successfully cooperated with one of the two centers also made a presentation at the event: SpectraFlow Analytics from Spreitbach in the canton of Aargau, Precipart from Lyss in the canton of Bern and Solukon Maschinenbau from Augsburg in southern Germany.
Additional centers of this kind are now set to follow, with the aim of strengthening Switzerland as a location for science and business. Therefore, a second call for tender is currently open. According to the press release, a center for co-robotics at Switzerland Innovation Park Biel and a center for the integration of high-quality photonic circuits at Park Innovaare in Villigen have a good chance of being approved.
