Ten Years of TECHNOPARK® Zurich: An Enjoyable Milestone!

Abstract

The TECHNOPARK® Zurich was created ten years ago from the desire to facilitate technology transfer from science (ETH Zürich) to the market thus enabling the ETH to concentrate on its core competence of basic research. Careful selection of innovative startups and spinoffs followed by support in networking and coaching have led to a much lower failure rate than average for such companies and the creation of more than 1000 jobs with the associated generation of tax revenue. Comparisons with similar projects in other countries such as the US have yielded concrete points for improvement in Switzerland but also the recognition that the TECHNOPARK® concept works for Switzerland and will continue to grow and thrive in the future.