Switzerland is one of the most competitive countries in the world. Commercially successful innovation activities are an essential part of this achievement. However, for some years innovation statistics show a significant decline in the fraction of research and development (R&D) active companies in Switzerland that is particularly notable in small and medium enterprises (SMEs).
In autumn 2022, the State Secretariat for Education, Research and Innovation SERI commissioned a first short study to analyse the decline in R&D-performing companies and trends in the innovation activity of Swiss companies. This study revealed several factors that pose major challenges to companies’ innovation activities (see the results page for more detail). These include, above all:
Most importantly the first study made clear that the
conditions and contexts of innovation are to some degree sector-specific, and a
“one-size-fits-all” approach is neither suitable to understanding corporate
innovation activities nor from a policy perspective appropriate to support
them.
Following this preliminary study, the National Council’s Committee for Science, Education and Culture submitted postulate 24.3009 ‘Declining innovation activities of Swiss companies. Identify the causes and remove the obstacles’ was submitted, which was accepted by the National Council on 30.05.2024. The Federal Council was instructed by this postulate to analyse in detail the causes of the decline in innovation activities by companies in Switzerland and to provide answers as to how the obstacles in the innovation process can be removed.
Under the heading ‘New innovation models’, this second project focuses on new sectoral innovation models and their consequences for innovation policies. Four key areas of adjustment were defined to better understand the new innovation models, identify potential weaknesses in the current (regulatory) policy framework and, if necessary, propose recommendations for Swiss innovation policy: 1) Data-related practices and needs in corporate innovation activities, 2) sustainability-related innovation activities and drivers and bottlenecks of such innovations, 3) regulation and innovation, and 4) collaboration practices and needs.
The project addresses these four themes and analyses the current situation and recent changes in selected sectors from the perspectives of innovation economics, innovation management and innovation policy. The project focuses on four sectors and thus enables in-depth and more specific analyses that are not yet possible on the basis of innovation surveys of the entire Swiss economy:
The four sectors are remarkable with regard to their innovation dynamics according to the hearings and results of the first study. They are subject to a high commonness of new/non-R&D innovation models and a particularly pronounced impact of recent macro trends (digitalisation, sustainability transition, supply/sales market disruptions).
In addition to the core sectors, the study will include samples from two further sectors to ensure a good representation of the Swiss economy as a whole: the metals, electronics and machine (MEM) industries and the food industries.
The project pursues a multi-method approach and engages in three different methods: