Anne Schmidt from the Canton of Zurich's location promotion department helps companies to work successfully in Zurich - and above all to drive innovative projects forward. Zurich is the ideal place for this and the creative potential is enormous.
Anne Schmidt, how do the City of Zurich and the Canton promote innovation in concrete terms?
Together with our partners, we want to strengthen Zurich as a location for innovation. To do this, we network innovative actors, use synergies and initiate projects on future topics such as food tech, artificial intelligence or cyber security and give them more visibility.
Technology and innovation parks are another important pillar within the innovation ecosystem. We support the development of such projects so that new lighthouses can emerge within emerging industries, such as the Digital Health Center in Bülach.
What distinguishes Zurich from other Swiss cities such as St. Gallen, Basel or Geneva in terms of innovation?
The canton of Zurich can not only look back on an impressive history as a financial centre, but also boasts a rich mix of industries with finance, life sciences, ICT and high-tech/cleantech as well as creative industries. Added to this is the unique density of outstanding educational institutions in the Zurich area, from which exciting spin-offs and start-ups emerge. In short: Zurich is an ideal innovation location combined with a high quality of life and very good accessibility in the heart of Europe.
FOOD ZURICH is all about food: How innovative is the Canton of Zurich in the food sector and how strongly are we shaping food trends (keyword "European Food Trends Report" by the GDI Gottlieb Duttweiler Institute)?
The food sector has developed into a dynamically growing centre in Zurich thanks to strong companies such as Givaudan or Lindt & Sprüngli as well as the strong life sciences and cleantech sectors. Equally important are the universities and their spin-offs, which are developing forward-looking forms of nutrition such as meat alternatives from plants and revolutionising agriculture with new cultivation methods. In addition, the enormous creative potential in the canton and the generally noticeable trend towards more sustainability are drivers for innovative ideas, projects and companies.
The canton of Zurich seems to be a good breeding ground for innovative projects in the food sector. Projects like Planted Foods AG have an impact far beyond Switzerland's borders. What is the recipe?
Zurich companies are at the forefront of helping to improve efficiency and sustainability in the development, production and selection and delivery of food. This year, for example, six companies from the canton of Zurich made it into Forward Fooding's FoodTech 500. They are many bright minds with good ideas that strike a chord with the times. An innovative and open ecosystem enables ideas to become projects and projects to become companies.
Which exciting food projects from the city have you supported within the framework of location promotion?
We have been systematically dealing with the food topic since the beginning of the year. Together with the Zurich Innovation Park and the think tank FoodVisionaries, we have held two round tables with representatives from the start-up scene, support organisations and universities in order to better understand the needs of the actors involved. There are
There are needs on different levels, for example regarding regulation, start-up/incubation and networking.
What do you - or we as city residents - get in return from the companies you support?
An active, well-connected food scene in the canton makes an important contribution to sustainability and makes Zurich an attractive location for new companies. Our work therefore strengthens Zurich as a business location and contributes to an attractive location with a high quality of life.
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Promoting innovative projects in Zurich
The Canton of Zurich's location promotion department accompanies, accelerates and networks start-ups, SMEs and large companies from Switzerland and abroad. It is a link between business, science and politics and works closely with the Greater Zurich Area. It promotes the networking of companies with science and politics in the Canton of Zurich with the aim of strengthening forward-looking key industries such as finance, life sciences, ICT as well as clean and high-tech and promoting innovation.
This is how it provides concrete help:
- It offers companies a pilot service through the cantonal administration and works to ease the administrative burden on companies.
- It supports companies with innovation issues, licensing questions, general concerns regarding Zurich as a business location, relocations or the founding of companies.
- In public-private partnerships, it offers needs-based support, for example in the biotech sector, but also in the ICT environment with eZürich.
