The economic research and consulting company EconSight has published its latest Digitalization Atlas. In this, it explores the locations of key companies that are leading the way in advanced digitalization technologies, with the aim of highlighting where local technology clusters can be found.
The results show that the Zurich region is the digital hub of Switzerland: around one in three patents in advanced digitalization technologies come from companies in the canton of Zurich (around 700 patents). Zurich is well-positioned in all five categories considered for the Digitalization Atlas, namely artificial intelligence, encryption, big data, cloud computing and virtual reality.
Looking at individual technological highlights, other regions in the Greater Zurich Area are also of importance. Expertise in the area of artificial intelligence and big data is especially pronounced in Schaffhausen, for example. In the canton of Zug, 45 percent of patents stem from digitalization technologies in artificial intelligence.
The highest single number of patents for advanced digitalization technologies are attributable to the Western Swiss company Kudelski (213 patents). Kudelski is followed by Zurich technology company ABB (196 patents), the Basel pharma giant Roche (149 patents) , Google’s parent company Alphabet (131 patents) and the tech corporation IBM (125 patents).
In addition to companies, EconSight also analyzed innovations stemming from universities. The two Swiss Federal Institutes of Technology in Lausanne (EPFL) and Zurich (ETH) top the list: the EPFL is at no. 1 with 59 patents, while the ETH comes second with 17 patents. The University of Zurich follows in third place with 14 patents.
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