NEW DELHI: Manufacturing and mountains. That’s what the Swiss are showcasing in a post-pandemic push to get their economy firing on all cylinders. As part of this, Switzerland Global Enterprise (S-GE) and Switzerland Tourism organised the Swiss Tech Experience Week from June 27. They invited innovative startups from India, Canada, Italy, France and the US, chosen through a competition, to tour the country and take in the facilities for hi-tech R&D and manufacturing, especially in robotics.
Unbox Robotics, which provides supply chain logistics to e-tailers, was the winner from India. Its CEO and co-founder
Pramod Ghadge
, after a visit to the Swiss Smart Factory at Biel, which showcased an assembly line that could be customised to put together diverse products, said the environment was ideal for manufacturing high-value products. Several Indian companies already have a presence in Switzerland. Dr Reddy’s Labs and Chennai-based Zifo RnD Solutions have set-ups in Basel, which is known as the gateway to Europe with a port on the river
Rhine
.
Anke Hollnagel
of Basel Area Business and Innovation says a base in Basel will help companies reach up to 500 million customers across Europe in a day.
Officials from SGE and Swiss Tourism said Switzerland was multi-lingual and multi-cultural, with German, French and Italian influences. And nearly everyone spoke English. Techparks and universities across the country were melting pots attracting people from all over the world.The Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne, one of the top universities globally, boasts of 120 nationalities among its 13,000 students.
Sirpa Tsimal, director investment promotion at S-GE, said Switzerland offers quality on both the work and leisure fronts. Investors and professionals get top of the line R&D facilities in robotics, life sciences and other hi-tech areas, with an equally high quality of life outside work, she says. S-GE helps those interested in setting up shop in Switzerland to make the right connections for tech, talent acquisition and even funding. In India, they have an office in Mumbai.
(The writer was in Switzerland on the invitation of Switzerland Global Enterprise and Switzerland Tourism)
