Switzerland: Research and development +10% in last 4 years

In 2015, Swiss companies spent 15.7 billion francs in research and development (R & D), corresponding to an increase of 10% compared to 2012, the last year of data collection.
Switzerland is one of the countries where companies are most active in R & D, indicates today the Federal Statistical Office (FSO) in a statement.

The growth rate between 2012 and 2015 is slightly higher than the previous period (+ 7% between 2008 and 2012). The survey, carried out by the FSO in collaboration with economiesuisse, shows that the trend has been strong in the last year: in 2015, companies spent almost 43 million francs a day, including weekends, an amount never detected earlier .

Globally, Switzerland therefore continues to remain at the top of the ranking in the last twenty years in fact, investment in R & D rising faster than the national GDP.

More specifically the major investments are reported in the pharmaceutical sector, which alone recorded 35% of total expenditure, amounting to 5.5 billion francs. The other two most significant sectors are "research and development" and "machines", which represent 16% and 10% of total expenditure. The only result of declining industry in the period under review, metallurgy, fell 30%, while the most marked increase in the percentage is that of the branch "ICT-services" (+ 66%).

In 2015 the company employed about 57,000 people in their R & D activities, or 10% more staff compared to 2012.