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Zurich economic area attracts more than 100 companies

101 foreign companies set up in the Zurich economic area last year. Together, they plan to create around 1,500 jobs in the coming years.

The number of foreign companies setting up a business in the Greater Zurich Area has increased to 101 in 2016.

The last time more than 100 new companies set up in the Zurich economic area was in 2010, revealed the Greater Zurich Area AG (GZA) in a statement. In 2015, the location marketing organisation and its partners in cantons, regions and authorities succeeded in attracting 93 foreign companies to the Zurich economic area.

A total of 63 of the companies set up are from the GZA's focus industries, which include pharmaceuticals, biotechnology, medical technology, ICT, cleantech and mechanical engineering. 39 of the companies are headquartered in Europe, 31 in the USA and nine

The 101 new companies created 434 new jobs in the year of their establishment in Switzerland. They plan to increase this figure to 1,541 in the next five years.

The new companies “will bring new innovative capacity, jobs and tax revenue to the Greater Zurich Area,” commented GZA managing director Sonja Wollkopf Walt in the statement. She added: “The positive result cannot be taken for granted in view of the strong franc, the uncertainty surrounding corporate taxes, implementation of the mass immigration initiative and of Brexit.”

Examples of successful establishments cited in the statement are the biopharmaceutical company Alnylam and the medical technology company Cardinal Health. Both companies hail from the USA and have set up in the canton of Zug. They cited access to the best international talent among their reasoning. 

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