Medtech

A tradition of progress

Switzerland is a formidable force in medical technology; annual growth is 6-8%, and few regions are more dynamic than the GREATER GENEVA BERNE area (GGBa). As early as the 1960s, orthopedic surgeon Professor Maurice E. Müller made huge advances in hip replacements, owing to his conviction that close collaboration between surgeons, scientists and industry was indispensable to the development of medical devices and implants. His work continues today at the MEM Research Center (Institute for Evaluative Research in Orthopedic Surgery) named after him.

With the region’s watchmaking skill to thank for home-grown expertise in precision engineering, and a powerful financial system to sponsor innovation, the GREATER GENEVA BERNE area’s member cantons continue to be ideally placed to defend their leading position in this highly competitive sector.

Nationally, some 600 medical technology companies employ a highly qualified workforce of 40,000, making the sector one of the largest and most diversified in Europe. Revenues total SFr 20.3 billion. The main export destinations are Europe, Asia, USA, Russia and Latin America.

Hundreds of suppliers, manufacturers and international sales organizations operate in biomaterials, cardiovascular and dental implants and devices, diabetes devices, electro-medical and imaging equipment, orthopedics, ophthalmology, respiratory equipment, surgical instruments, and wound and care management. The GGBa is also home to companies active in automation, micro-machining and micro-assembly -all indispensable to the medtech industry.

support for start-ups

As with the GGBa’s other key sectors, medtech firms are bolstered by an extensive yet closely linked network of university research centers, incubators and technology parks. The GGBa’s networks of excellence that act as a bridge between the lab and the marketplace include the Competence Center for Medical Technology (CCMT) in Berne, which handles technology transfer between universities and industry free of charge, the Medical Cluster in Berne, which promotes innovative companies, and BioAlps life science cluster which covers the entire GGBa. This system of organized knowledge exchange has generated dozens of small and medium-sized start-up and spin-off companies the backbone of the medtech industry.

Swissmedic, the central Swiss monitoring authority for medicines, offers an efficient system of registration and certification which helps bring new products to the market and facilitate quick product launches.

With numerous multinationals here to make full use of such expertise including Alcon, Bio-Rad Laboratories, Pall Life Sciences, Medtronic, Beckman Coulter, Stryker, Synthes, Edwards Lifesciences, Greatbatch Medical, Ypsomed, Straumann and Johnson & Johnson, the GGBa shines as a globally competitive medtech gem.