Make no mistake, Lausanne is not only compared to San Francisco only for its pleasant climate, its wine culture and its terraces. It is their respective links with technology that unite them.
Lausanne has seen the development of the Health Valley, named after the Californian Silicon Valley. The Lake Geneva basin is conducive to the development of new technologies and is part of one of the world’s most dynamic ecosystems in terms of life sciences and health. Like its big sister, this region has seen the development of a large number of companies active in technology. Thanks to its high concentration of know-how in the biomedical sector, Western Switzerland is able to compete internationally.
This cluster includes almost 1,000 companies, research centres and innovation support structures, representing more than 25,000 jobs today.
It is also thanks to the universities and research centres established in the region that the ecosystem is flourishing. Indeed, it is home to the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne (EPFL), which is ranked among the top five universities in Europe. In particular, it has developed the Biotech Campus in partnership with the University of Geneva to ensure that the Lake Geneva region remains at the forefront of biotechnology and life sciences research. The Lausanne University Hospital (CHUV), rated 9th best hospital in the world by Newsweek Magazine in 2019, also plays a central role in medical research and education.
All these elements together create the dynamism of the Health Valley and enables Switzerland to take a leading role in the medical technology sector.
Read more about the Health Valley
Discover the Huffington Post article here.
*The city of Lausanne was named best small city in the world in the very first “Small Cities Index” of the British magazine Monocle.