Swiss imagination and engineering are a potent recipe for global reinvention … from coffee and cheese, to finance and pharma … inspired by ABB and Beekeeper, Nestle and On, Richemont and UBS

November 16, 2023

Switzerland is a land of high peaks and deep valleys, the Swiss are a people of great character and historic ingenuity. Switzerland is one of the world’s top 10 economies by GDP, and home to some of the world’s most innovative companies.

It is also the land of science and imagination. From the UN to CERN, from cheese to chocolate, finance and pharma, Swiss-based organisations continue to shape the world. But its not just all George Clooney rowing across Lake Geneva, or Roger Federer in youthful retirement. Consider Nobel prize winner Jennifer Doudna and her business, Crispr Therapeutics, shaping the future of healthcare, with gene editing and the next generation of healthcare and humanity.

Albert Einstein, of course, loved to walk in the mountains above Bern, seeking to make sense of the physical world. Inspired by the stunning environment, he envisioned how to connect tangible and intangible, starting with qualitative imagination, leading to quantified engineering – or in his case, the relationship between energy and matter, assisted by his mathematician wife in formulating E = mc²

Across the border, Germany looks on enviously. While the Germans have lost their way in a rapidly changing world, its former industrial might now more of a rusting restraint, the Swiss power ahead.

Compare the two nations: Switzerland is 10x smaller than Germany, in geography and population. Swiss life expectancy is 3 years longer, but German are marginally healthier. Swiss GDP is double (per capita), and average income is double too. Cost of living is actually on par, although inflation 3x greater in Germany. And on average the Swiss have 30 minutes more sunshine per day!

However Switzerland is not all about Swiss banks, gigantic Toblerones, and the World Economic Forum. One of the most innovative Swiss companies of recent years is On, the sportswear business founded by Swiss triathlete Olivier Bernhard. The business has ground rapidly across the world, from a niche running brand to a lifestyle fashion icon.

30 years ago, Swatch was one of the first Swiss “game-changers” as I call them. Recognising the increasingly outdated practices of classic Swiss watch making, it reinvented the timepiece for a modern world. Funky, colourful and accessible to everyone. Swatch Group today continues to thrive and now owns many of the classic brands like Omega and Tissot.

And then there is healthcare. Running along the banks of the Rhine in Basel recently, I passed the headquarters of Roche on one side, and Novartis on the other. On another visit, to Zurich I can smell the chocolate of Nestle from the city centre. While a little south in the small town of Zug, often known as the IP capital of the world, I find Crispr Therapeutics and Coca Cola’s Hellenic Bottling Company.

While some traditional Swiss companies do still share the 20th century engineering malaise of Germany, stuck in their unionised practices and superiority mindset, many other Swiss companies have reawaken to the new world, with new agendas and priorities.

One example is Holcim, the global leader in cement, but redefining itself in a much more holistic way, as a global leader in sustainable contruction, or even sustainable urban development. Addressing its old carbon-intensive materials, it is rapidly on the path to decarbonising its own practices, embracing circular business models and innovative alternative materials.

So who are some of my favourite Swiss brands and businesses, arguably fighting above their weight in global markets, and continuing to thrive through imagination and engineering, in a world of rapid change?

---

More from the blog