In terms of economic promotion, the sector of innovations linked to the energy and climate transition (cleantech) is on the rise in the canton of Vaud. Aid allocated to this area increased by almost 25% in 2023 compared to 2022.
In 2023, 226 companies were supported by the Service for the Promotion of Innovation and the Economy (SPEI) through 6.62 million francs in non-recurring aid allocated to 733 projects. With 3,722 jobs affected by this aid. Figures that are close to the records for 2022.
Three sectors are still dominant: companies active in digital technologies, in life sciences and in precision industry. They are joined this year by a fourth sector which is “growing in strength”, that of cleantech (green technologies), representing almost 20% of the support granted. An increase of 23.7% compared to 2022.
“Innovation and sustainability”
“The canton of Vaud benefits from a solid network of partners, engaged on a daily basis in economic and tourist promotion. In 2023, a total of more than a thousand companies and project leaders will have benefited from the various measures of support put in place by the Vaud government, particularly in terms of innovation and sustainability”, Isabelle Moret, State Councilor in charge of the economy, told the media in Pully on Friday.
“Despite a complex geopolitical context, Vaud economic promotion has successfully fulfilled its mission,” said the head of the Department of Economy, Innovation, Employment and Heritage (DEIEP). “For each franc of money granted by the State of Vaud, nearly three francs of private investments were made by the supported companies,” summarized Raphaël Conz, head of the Department for the Promotion of the Economy and Development. innovation (SPEI). Has there been a strategy deployed in 2023? Listen to his response:
Vaud start-ups have raised 444 million francs and 29 of them appear in the Top 100 of the best start-ups in Switzerland, according to Ms. Moret. The medtech (medical technologies) sector is particularly represented in 2023, with 52% (or 198 million) of investments made at the Swiss level in medtech went to start-ups in the canton.
Research and development: record
The keystone of innovation, research and development (R&D), for its part, was supported by the innovation parks which hosted, at the end of 2023, “the record figure” of 661 companies and 8,326 jobs. The new “unlimitrust” campus dedicated to the trust economy, inaugurated in June 2023 in Prilly, the expansion of Biopôle in Epalinges and the EPFL Innovation Park extension project with Ecotope were cited as examples.
Opened in 2022, the Sustainable Economy Support Fund, which aims to encourage and support Vaud companies in their transition to sustainability, has proven itself in 2023. It has supported 84 projects involving 137 companies for a total amount of nearly of four million francs.
In terms of prospecting outside Switzerland, 28 foreign companies have set up in Vaud in 2023, compared to 30 a year earlier. At the top, in descending order, France (25%), China (14%), Russia, Belgium and the United States (all at 11%), detailed Patrick Barbey, director of Innovaud. It describes which sectors are affected and why.
Lena Vulliamy with Keystone ATS
