Switzerland is a leader in robotics

Robotics is now used worldwide in industry, medicine, logistics and numerous other fields. Switzerland is very well positioned in this regard, according to the latest Economic Monitor from Raiffeisen Economic Research, based in St.Gallen. At least 217 companies with around 7,000 employees make up the Swiss robotics ecosystem. According to the study, Switzerland is ahead of the USA and Europe in terms of per capita startups in the robotics sector. It states that, since 2020, a total of 3.8 Swiss robotics startups per million inhabitants have received venture capital, “significantly” more than in the USA, the UK and other European countries examined by Raiffeisen.

“Robotics is reaching more and more sectors. Switzerland is strong in both the development and deployment of robots and is therefore well placed to benefit economically from this development,” explained Fredy Hasenmaile, Chief Economist at Raiffeisen Switzerland, in a statement. More than 5 million industrial robots are currently in use worldwide, and by 2025, 207,000 professional robots will have left the factory floors, according to the report. Switzerland is also said to be particularly strong in technologically sophisticated specialist applications, such as drones, autonomous mobile robots and medical robotics. With 29 industrial robots per 1,000 employees, Switzerland ranks among the world’s top ten countries in this field and leads the way in Europe.

Universities play a key role in this development. Around 56 percent of local robotics firms are spin-offs from institutions including the Swiss Federal Institutes of Technology in Zurich (ETH) and Lausanne (EPFL). Zurich and Vaud are also the geographical hubs of the robotics sector. “The link between university research and industry does not just create many new companies. Robotics startups in Switzerland also find investors at an early stage and enjoy favorable conditions for their growth,” says Hasenmaile. However, in funding rounds worth more than 100 million US dollars, only 12 percent of the investment comes from Switzerland – 54 percent comes from the USA.