Swiss Innovation Park: Decentralised Hub for Western Switzerland
EPFL and the western cantons - Vaud, Valais, Fribourg, Neuchâtel and Geneva - have decided to join forces in contributing to create the future National Innovation Park. On Friday they filed a portfolio on the western Switzerland hub with the Conference of Cantonal Directors of the Economy (CDEP), with the stated ambition to give Switzerland the global visibility it deserves in the field of innovation.
Stemming from the Federal Assembly, the National Innovation Park (PNI) project aims to strengthen Switzerland's position on the world map of scientific and technological innovation by creating parks to accommodate companies, start-ups and all the actors of innovation. As decided by the Conference of Cantonal Directors of the Economy (CDEP) on 20 June 2013, the two Federal Institutes of Technology will be the main hubs in the Swiss network, which will also include some secondary sites to be subsequently selected by the CDEP. The federal parliament will ratify the final organisation of the PNI in 2015.
The cantons of Western Switzerland - Vaud, Valais, Fribourg, Neuchâtel and Geneva - have therefore signed a memorandum of understanding with EPFL and drafted a comprehensive concept for implementation of the decentralised Western Switzerland Hub. The concept will be further developed by the end of June 2014 for submission of the complete dossier to the Federal Department of Economic Affairs, Education and Research. The file is based on a description of locations either existing or to be developed, as well as joint governance and representation structures in which both the cantons and EPFL are represented. Beyond its main campus in Lausanne which already includes an innovation park offering nearly 1,700 jobs, four other satellite sites are being developed in Neuchâtel (Microcity), Sion (Energypolis), Fribourg (BlueFactory) and Geneva (Campus Biotech). The decentralised hub aims to capitalise on the fields of economic and scientific excellence of each site.
EPFL plays a central role in this scientific and innovation ecosystem relying on four universities, Switzerland’s largest university of applied sciences, two university hospitals and renowned research institutes such as CSEM and CERN. This exceptional density of skills is already making a decisive contribution to the influence of Swiss innovation.
In order to develop close collaborations between EPFL and the academic and economic actors on the various sites, local governance structures will be established under the leadership of each canton. In close cooperation with the cantonal economic development authorities, these structures will provide appropriate support, in particular in hosting Swiss or foreign entrepreneurs and companies wishing to set up close to the centres of excellence of the western Switzerland hub. Western Switzerland has thus taken the lead in developing an original, ambitious and pragmatic framework to maximise both the economic impact and international visibility of Swiss innovation capacity.