Develop partnerships to scale your business

Switzerland hosts major food and nutrition conglomerates like ADM, Nestlé, Bühler, dsm-firmenich, Mondelez Europe, Givaudan, Syngenta and Tetra Pak. This concentration can give your company valuable access to decision-makers for pilot projects and potential business partnerships. Geneva serves as a hub for many international organizations such as the UN, making it easier to identify opportunities that will allow your solutions to scale globally. 

Switzerland is also a springboard into Europe. It is a culturally diverse and multilingual country with low bureaucratic hurdles and innovation-curious consumers. Consequently, many leading international companies have recognized Switzerland's value as a test market to assess product or concept viability across various consumer segments before expanding.

Enjoy a safe and innovative legal framework

Switzerland is culturally diverse, with four official languages and a mix of regional cultures. This diversity provides an ideal ground for testing the response to your product among various consumer segments.  

With a well-established regulatory framework for food safety and labeling, Switzerland is an ideal entry point if you want to scale new services and products globally and enter other European markets. The place of origin label “Made in Switzerland” stands for high-quality products. 

Collaborate pragmatically with leading research institutes

Leverage world class R&D expertise in Switzerland: Leading the Global Innovation Index for 13 consecutive years, Switzerland ranked 4th globally for R&D spend. 14 Swiss companies, including Nestlé and Givaudan, are part of the global list of groups that invest the most in research. Switzerland’s academic institutions contribute a third of the total investment, driving cutting-edge food science and technology research. But this knowledge isn’t kept under lock and key: Switzerland also ranks 1st globally for R&D collaborations. 

But innovation doesn’t end in the lab: Your company can benefit from Switzerland’s strong innovation infrastructure and resources that help transform brilliant scientific findings into viable and scalable solutions. If you are a startup, Innosuisse provides funds to facilitate partnerships with research centers, giving you access to the equipment you need to bring your solution to market. If you are an established company, you can connect into corporate accelerators by Unilever and Nestlé and topic-specific hubs which offer scale-up facilities, technologies, expertise, and access to targeted networks. 
 

Attract and retain the best people

Thanks to its exceptional quality of life and the strength of its education system, Switzerland topped both the IMD World Talent Ranking and the Global Talent Competitiveness Index in 2023. Many globally renowned Swiss academic institutions, including ETH Zurich, EPFL Lausanne and applied sciences universities like HES-SO and ZHAW offer programs in food technology and biotechnology. 

Along with a thriving start-up scene in food tech that works on innovations in sustainable food production, alternative protein sources and precision nutrition, Switzerland attracts and retains entrepreneurial talent and quickly absorbs new technologies. 160+ FoodTech startups were founded between 2017 and 2020, and 19+ big-brand food and nutrition corporates are either Swiss or headquartered in Switzerland.