The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) has previously published a global innovation index in which Switzerland was ranked as the world's number one innovator for the ninth consecutive year. Switzerland, with a total population of only 8.4 million people, has managed to outperform the United States as the world's number one innovation powerhouse. It is worth mentioning that Switzerland is a leader in patent applications, intellectual property revenues and the production of high-end technology products, and the transformation of innovation results is extremely efficient. It is also noteworthy that Switzerland used to have the highest salaries in the world.
Even small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Switzerland have at least one world-leading innovation. For example, there are currently more than 80 drone-related companies in Switzerland. These companies are small in size, but they have risen rapidly over the past six years to form the Swiss "Drone Valley". These UAV companies have shown a trend of segmentation in both specialization and commercialization, with each UAV company focusing on a specific field, and the UAVs developed by different companies meeting the application needs of different scenarios. ETH Zurich, ETH Lausanne, and the University of Zurich are at the forefront of research on flying robots and UAV automation systems.
Comprehensive universities, including ETH Zurich and ETH Lausanne, are responsible for basic scientific research, and the two universities have strong scientific research strengths in the fields of electronics and engineering, which have made an important contribution to the enhancement of Switzerland's innovation capacity. These two universities make an important contribution to the development of Switzerland's innovation capacity. Many startups are born from the cutting-edge research teams of these two universities. Dr. Zhenzhong Su's startup Fixposition is dedicated to providing high-precision navigation solutions for self-driving cars, and its core technology of centimeter-level high-precision positioning RTK technology comes from ETH Zurich.
One of the top technologies and fields: Swiss robotics
The Swiss "painter" robot, which consists of more than 2,000 parts and is accurate to one-hundredth of a millimeter. The robot can paint the head of Louis XV, the head of King George III and Queen Charlotte, as well as the butterfly in the hands of Eros, and other works. The Swiss robot is so skillful and focused that it can even gently blow the pencil dust off the paper from time to time.
The Swiss "musician" robot, a young girl in a rococo dress, consists of more than 2,500 parts, and can play five pieces on an organ with 48 pipes. Her body sways gracefully as her fingers move across the keyboard, and on closer inspection you can even see her chest rise and fall as she breathes. When the song is finished, the robot nods its head to the listener.
Another example is that in the collection of clocks and watches at the Forbidden City, one of the treasures of the museum, which is said to be the favorite of Qianlong, is the copper and gilded writing clock, which came from the famous Swiss workshop Jaquet-Droz.
It is worth mentioning that the Swiss robot is a gentleman in European-style dress, kneeling down on one knee, with a modest expression, the right hand in a standard posture hanging wrist pen. After winding, he will be in front of the paper slowly written down "eight directions, nine earth to the king" eight Chinese characters. The font of the Chinese characters written is Emperor Qianlong's favorite Zhao Mengfu Regular Script, the word end of the flow of beauty, pen style God both, breathtaking.
It is worth mentioning that for seven consecutive years, Switzerland was named the world's most innovative country by Cornell University, the World Intellectual Property Organization and INSEAD*** in Paris. A country with a population of just eight million has one of the highest rates of peer-reviewed scientific publications in the world. ETH Zurich and EPEL Lausanne, which have produced 21 Nobel Prize winners including Albert Einstein, are among the top-ranked polytechnic universities in the world and the top in Europe, especially in the field of robotics, where world-class professors and a large number of highly qualified personnel can be found.
Switzerland's ABB industrial robotics giant, belonging to one of the world's strong robotics four families, represented by YUMI. and then Switzerland's maxon motors, which was used as a Mars rover used motors. maxon re40 has become the global academic standard for exoskeleton robots to drive the development of motors.
Hocoma, the Swiss medical rehabilitation robot, sits at the top of the global medical rehabilitation world today, with classic products such as the Lokomat fully automated machine gait assessment system and the Armeo upper limb rehabilitation robot. For example, the Swiss quadrupedal robot ANYmal, which looks like a big Boston dog, can be used to assist in search and rescue missions.
The world's earliest writing robots originated in Switzerland, where three robotic dolls made by Swiss watchmaker Pierre Jaquet-Droz and his assistants in the 1870s are a classic of the century, and are now considered to be of the highest caliber. These robots are more than 240 years old, but have the appearance of a child, one can write, one is good at painting, and one can play the organ.
Switzerland invented indoor inspection drones. For example, FLYABILITY's indoor inspection drones use the world's most advanced features to capture precise data, replacing humans in confined spaces to quickly and accurately complete inspections, and are widely used in the fields of chemical engineering, thermal power stations, municipal facilities, and fire safety.
Top technology and field No. 2: Swiss precision machine tools
Swiss machine tools in the world can be said to be very cattle. For a long time, Switzerland's machine tool exports ranked in the world's top five, per capita machine tool export earnings once nearly 30 years in the world's first, more than 150 countries in the world is the Swiss machine tool products of long-term users. In particular, precision machine tools, more favored by the global people.
"Swiss machine tools" are known worldwide. As one of the German-speaking countries, the Swiss people inherited the German-speaking countries rigorous and serious "craftsmanship", craftsmanship with the obsession of excellence. Someone once asked a Swiss boss, "Are you not afraid that I will take your company, your entire company's products apart to do reverse engineering?" He came with a "t". He said "try", you try. Swiss company's machines are all handmade, no one in the world can imitate, there are very key parts, process, including some molds, key places of spare parts, all are this Swiss boss manually polished out little by little. Swiss machine tool industry in the world The first echelon, belonging to the first-class players: Switzerland Mikron (watch equipment), Switzerland Baomei (watch equipment), Switzerland Willie Ming (watch equipment), Switzerland Strager, Switzerland Ligit, Swiss machine tools, whether from the appearance of the inner, or the level of design and innovation, or the processing capacity and processing precision, almost impeccable. Precision work, excellence, machine tool processing precision is very high, the yield is very low.
The more well-known Swiss machine tool brands are:
Starrag, GF, Willemin-Macodel SA, Mikron Group, Tornos, Fehlmann, Reishauer, BUMOTEC, Liechti, Schaublin Machines SA, Faessler, ERNST-GROB, Lambtwari, Studer, Affolter, Precitrame Machines SA, ESCO, REGO-FIX and many more.
Top Technology and Fields No. 3: Electromechanical Equipment
Switzerland continues to enjoy a global reputation for advanced manufacturing. Switzerland's world-renowned industrial giant ABB Group, a producer of power generation equipment, high-voltage transmission equipment, distribution equipment, and electric locomotives, has the world's second-largest market share in this field, the world's first in the motion control market, and is one of the world's four largest manufacturers of robots.
Switzerland's world's largest escalator manufacturer, the world's second-largest elevator supplier Schindler Group also originated in Switzerland, by Robert Schindler was founded in 1874, so far has a history of more than 150 years . The group has more than 90 holding companies in more than one hundred countries and regions around the world, and according to incomplete statistics, there are more than 1 billion people riding on Schindler's elevators and escalators around the world every day.
Switzerland also has the Sura Group and Rieter's textile machinery, Fain Toure's stamping machines, AgieCharmilles' EDM machines, Bühler's food processing machines and so on, which can be said to be the world's best of its kind.
The Swiss MEM industry (electrical and metal industry) is an important pillar of the Swiss industry. there are about 13,000 companies in the MEM industry, 98% of which are small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), with a total employment of 320,000 people, including 20,000 apprentices, making it the industry with the largest number of jobs.
Top technology and field No. 4: precision medical equipment
Switzerland is very well known in the global medical equipment segment, the small Switzerland has about 740 companies in the world, such as the famous Synthes (Synthes Medical Devices), and then the Sonova (Sonova), etc. are renowned. They produce surgical instruments, dentures, heart stents, artificial joints, hearing aids, laboratory equipment and many other products that are among the world's leading products. For example, the Swiss Allen medical absorbable surgical suture was once the World Health Organization's winning product supplier.
Top 5: Biotechnology
Switzerland is home to some of the world's leading biotech giants: Roche and Novartis. Roche is Switzerland's number one pharmaceutical company, with global dominance in antitumor drugs. It is competing with the famous Pfizer in the United States, and the two companies are always competing to see who is the world's top pharmaceutical company. Switzerland's Novartis is the world's second largest pharmaceutical company, founded in 1996. After merging with Ciba-Geigy and Sandoz, Novartis and its predecessor companies have a history that goes back 250 years. Novartis has a diversified portfolio of innovative medicines, ophthalmic care, generic medicines for a wide range of clinical applications, preventive vaccines and diagnostic devices, over-the-counter medicines and animal health products.
Switzerland is also home to many other world-class pharmaceutical companies, such as Serono, which was once known as one of the world's top three biopharmaceutical companies alongside Amgen and Genentech, and small and medium-sized pharmaceutical companies such as Acteli on, Baselia Pharmaceuticals, Arpida and Addex. It is evident that the level of biotechnology in Switzerland is very high.
It is worth noting that Switzerland has the highest density of biotechnology companies in the world if calculated in proportion to its population. A report published this month by the Swiss federal government called "Swiss Biotechnology: An Action Plan" says that the level of biotechnology research in Switzerland is higher than the EU average.
Top Technologies and Fields No. 6: Health Technologies
Switzerland is the world's earliest application of biotechnology anti-aging technology. For example, the familiar Swiss sheep plasma and so on. It is worth mentioning that Switzerland is also in the world's leading technology in medical cosmetology, plastic surgery, minimally invasive surgery. Especially the body detoxification, cellular anti-aging, medical beauty, etc., are also Switzerland's medical advantages. Switzerland has been one of the world's most livable countries, one of the world's longest life expectancy, once known as "Europe's royal anti-aging mecca", air, water and other nine natural environmental indicators are among the world's first. Switzerland has also been leading the world in medical technology. This makes Switzerland one of the most popular health resorts for tourists from all over the world.
Genolier Swiss Medical Network (GSMN) is the only listed private hospital group in Switzerland. GSMN is the only publicly traded private hospital group in Switzerland and has the reputation of being "the best private healthcare organization in the world". GSMN hospitals are the first in the world to create the "human immune system - cancer risk" analysis model; GSMN hospitals are the only hospitals in the world that can use IORT - Intraoperative Radiation Therapy. GSMN Hospital is the only hospital in the world that is currently able to use IORT-intraoperative radiation therapy; GSMN Hospital's cancer cure rate is 92%, which was once ranked number one in the world; and in addition to scientific research, PSI has the only proton therapy center in Switzerland.
Top Technologies and Fields #7: Top Research Institutes
The Paul Scherrer Institute (PSI) was founded in 1988 on the banks of the river Aare between Zurich and Basel in northern Switzerland. It is Switzerland's largest national research institute and a multidisciplinary research center for science and technology, with major research areas in the structure of matter, energy and the environment, and human health, and with a number of large-scale research facilities, some of which are unique not only in Switzerland, but also in the world.
Top Technology and Fields No. 8: Chemical Technology
Switzerland's chemical industry is very well developed, and it is an important pillar of Swiss industry. In addition to about 2/5 of the output value of the chemical industry, pharmaceuticals, dyes, pesticides, balsams and flavors are very important in the international market. For example, the world-renowned fine chemical producers in Basel, Switzerland, Ciba Fine Chemicals (Ciba Specialty Chemicals) is a well-known global chemical giant.
Ciba Specialty Chemicals was founded in 1997, its predecessor for the Ciba-Geigy (Ciba-Geigy) company's fine chemicals division. It employs 19,300 people in 79 branches in 28 countries and has 24 fine chemical-related research centers in 12 countries. According to the "Global Industry Competitiveness Index" of the economic research institute BAK Economics, Switzerland is ranked second after the United States (120.9) with 119.5 points, with a total score of 120.2 in the pharmaceutical sector and 116.3 in chemistry.
Top Technology and Field No. 9: Cleantech
Switzerland is a global leader in cleantech. Switzerland was the first European country to enact an environmental protection law and has developed a wide range of environmental laws and regulations. Switzerland has a large number of small and medium-sized cleantech companies, and employment in the cleantech industry has grown by 25% in the last five years, accounting for 5.5% of the total Swiss labor force and almost 5% of the country's GDP. It is worth noting that Switzerland ranks first in the world in terms of cleantech patents per capita. In 2020, for example, Swiss engineering group ABB also joined the European Clean Hydrogen Alliance, which will work with governments and other Alliance members to expand the hydrogen value chain across Europe.
Switzerland's energy power sector relies heavily on hydropower, as the Alps cover nearly two-thirds of the country's land mass, providing many large mountain lakes and artificial reservoirs suitable for hydropower generation.
As early as 2019, around 75% of Switzerland's end-use electricity is generated from renewable energy sources (74% in 2018), with large-scale hydroelectricity accounting for 66%, photovoltaic, wind, small hydroelectric power plants, and biomass*** accounting for around 8.4%, nuclear energy generating 19% of electricity, and waste and fossil power generating close to 2%. Especially with the increase in nuclear power generation, Switzerland has moved from being a net importer to a net exporter of electricity.
Top 10: Drone technology
Switzerland is home to a number of innovations in the field of drone ecosystems and smart vehicles. According to various global ranking indices, Switzerland is one of the most innovative and competitive countries in the world. Switzerland has world-leading drone startups and established companies with world-leading technology in areas such as sensing and analytics, industrial inspection, safety and traffic control, high-altitude drones, recreation, and humanitarian relief.
Switzerland is one of the pioneers in the field of drone technology and has positioned itself as a leading center for research and innovation. Over the past six years, Switzerland's "Drone Valley" has attracted more than 80 startups and created more than 2,500 jobs, many of which were incubated at top research institutes such as ETHZ and EPFL. Swiss drones are used in a variety of applications, including public ****security, agriculture, and humanitarian aid in crisis areas, and Switzerland has also integrated the use and security of drones into its aviation and data privacy.
Another example is the famous Neuron UAV, a stealth drone developed with the participation of Switzerland, led by France, and with the participation of Sweden, Italy, Spain and Greece***, a multi-functional unmanned combat platform that combines reconnaissance, surveillance, and attack, with the appearance of the B2 Phantom Bomber, and with neuron sizes of no more than a sparrow on the radar screen. The neuron drone can complete the flight independently without receiving any instructions, and self-correct in the complex flight environment.
Top Technologies and Fields #11: Finance
Switzerland's banks, especially the private banks, have long been considered the safest in the world. With its small size and population, Switzerland is one of the world's leading financial centers, both in terms of asset management or insurance operations and as a trading platform for raw materials. The Swiss banking industry, insurance industry, securities market and gold market are the four pillars of the Swiss financial industry, which is an important engine of the Swiss economy.
Switzerland's financial industry has advanced means of trading. 1995, the Swiss stock exchange in the world's first to launch the online electronic trading system, at the same time, Switzerland is the world's largest gold refining country, the world's largest per capita gold reserves, the world's 40% of the gold trading in Switzerland, Zurich is the world's second largest gold trading market.
Switzerland as a trade center, Switzerland has become the world's most important raw materials trade platform. Some of the raw materials companies are among the largest in Switzerland by sales and are leaders in the world. The trade in raw materials used to account for 94% of Swiss transit trade. This corresponds to approximately 3.5% of GDP. Commodities traded included nearly 60% of energy materials, 20% of mineral raw materials and 15% of agricultural and forestry products.
Switzerland has 266 banking institutions, the five most important of which are UBS, Credit Suisse, Leif Essen, Kantonalbank Zurich, and Postfinanzbank, with the assets of the three large banking institutions (UBS, Credit Suisse, and Kantonalbank Zurich) accounting for half of all bank capitalization tables.
Top Technology and Fields XII: Watchmaking
Switzerland is known as the "Kingdom of Watches". Due to the lack of resources, Switzerland attaches particular importance to the production of less material, value, precision, and easy to export industrial products, such as precision machinery, clocks and watches, etc. In particular, clocks and watches use very little raw material. Especially clocks and watches, the use of raw materials, but the price is very high, has always been regarded by the Swiss as a way to make money. In Switzerland, watch factories are almost all over the country, the capital city of Bern and the main cities of Zurich, Geneva, Basel have developed watch industry, almost every family is related to watches. Most of the world's famous watches come from Switzerland, and the country's watch exports have always ranked first in the world.
As early as 1800, the world's total production of clocks and watches reached 25 million, and Switzerland accounted for two-thirds of the world's leading production of watches. 1978, the Swiss smh group produced a prototype of the watch samples of only 2 millimeters thick, which was the world's thinnest quartz watch at that time. The Swatch Group is the world's largest watch group. Swatch has 18 brands under its umbrella, including Breguet (breguet), Omega, Tissot, Longines, Rado, Calvin Klein, Cetina (certina), Mido (mido), Pierre Balmain (pierre balmain), Blancpain (blancpain) and Swatch.
Top Technologies and Fields No. 13: Driverless Racing Technology
Switzerland's AMZ Racing once launched a global driverless racing car power with superb acceleration and a weight ratio of 0.86kW/kg, even exceeding that of supercars. The product also won the overall championship in the 2018 German and Italian Formula Student Auto Race. Fixposition invented a high-precision, highly reliable and multi-scenario adaptive precision positioning system, accurate real-time dynamic satellite positioning and sharp computer vision technology complement each other to achieve the perfect multi-sensor fusion, to promote the development of new robot applications and related services.
Top Technology and Field No. 14: Swiss Army Knives and Inventions
"Swiss Champion" was once considered by the world to be the most versatile model with the widest range of applications. It is best suited for field trips, travel adventures, vacations, camping and other situations. As a result of comprehensive functions, sophisticated design, a knife in the hand so that you seem to have a real all-purpose toolbox, when you need to combine a variety of applications like magic, is the ideal equipment. It is also the classic representative of the Swiss Army Knife, which is collected by the Museum of Modern Art in New York and the Museum of Applied Arts in Munich as "World Design Classics".
Another example is the "Micro-Pro" brilliant 11-in-1 illuminated tool pliers invented by Swiss Small Tech, which are unique in their category. The delicate design combines mini tool pliers with LED's white light illumination into a single unit, effectively utilizing every precise link to solve your troubles in daily life. Convenience and practicality is its specialty. Just clip on the key ring, you can carry it with you, whether it is locking screw peaks, clamping and cutting wire metal, can be solved, the body of this model is a LED light flashlight, in you encounter dim light occasions, can provide a very big help.
Top Technologies and Fields 15: Swiss Education
Switzerland is one of the world's most generous investors in the field of education, with 10 percent of the Swiss federal budget invested in education every year. When it comes to Swiss education, we have to mention Swiss upper secondary education. Unlike our current upper secondary education, which is based on theory and exams, Swiss upper secondary education is all vocational, however, almost all students complete this stage of their education by doing an apprenticeship or staying on at school. Apprenticeship-style education in Switzerland consists of field training in a specific occupation over a period of 3-4 years, with the duration of training varying for each field. The apprentice works in a company and also learns theory at a specialized school in the same field as the company (one to two days of study per week). This perfect combination of sufficient theoretical knowledge and direct work experience allows the apprentice to find a suitable job offer after successfully completing his or her training.
It is for this reason that Switzerland has developed into a "small country, big on technology" and has become the world's leading technology center. In terms of population, Switzerland has the highest number of Nobel Prizes per capita and patents per capita in the world.
Top Technology and Fields No. 14: Tourism
In the latest ranking of tourism competitiveness of the world's countries by the World Economic Forum (WEF), Switzerland has topped the list and is recognized as the most attractive country for the development of tourism. Switzerland is a pioneer in the development of tourism and is one of the world's leading developed countries. After more than two centuries of development, tourism has become a pillar industry of the Swiss national economy. In recent years, it has generated more than 20 billion Swiss francs in tourism revenue, more than the Swiss watch industry and banking sector. 2004, the total revenue from tourism in Switzerland amounted to 24.8 billion Swiss francs, which once accounted for 5.6% of the gross domestic product (GDP). The development of Switzerland's tourism industry is first and foremost due to its unique tourism resources.
Switzerland is a landlocked country with a small area, but its unique tourism resources and services have attracted tourists from all over the world. Every year, more than 60 million overnight guests come to Switzerland, and it has become an important international tourist destination. According to a report by the World Economic Forum, Switzerland's tourism industry generates around 6.2% of its GDP, far more than Germany's. The United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) is the world's leading organization for tourism. According to the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO), Switzerland is one of the 20 most popular tourist destinations in the world, despite its small size. According to Ernst & Young, Switzerland is the most attractive place in Europe for foreign entrepreneurs to do business.
Switzerland's first place in the world is due to the high scores it receives in the areas of health, drinking water hygiene, railroad infrastructure, and hotel management schools. In addition to this, Switzerland is also rated as the safest country and has six sites that have been named World Cultural and Natural Heritage by UNESCO. Switzerland's environmental protection laws are also rated as the toughest and most effective.