REGIONAL FOCUS
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Harry Lime was wrong, of course. The cinephiles among you will recall how that louche character, portrayed by Orson Welles in the 1949 film The Third Man, described Switzerland’s contribution to world culture. “In Italy, for 30 years under the Borgias, they had warfare, terror, murder, and bloodshed, but they produced Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci, and the Renaissance,” Welles intoned to his erstwhile friend. “In Switzerland, they had brotherly love, 500 years of democracy and peace—and what did that produce? The cuckoo clock.”
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Let’s not even dwell on the fact that Switzerland’s watchmaking pedigree does not include that particular paragon of kitsch—a point Welles sheepishly acknowledged after the film was released. The national passion for micromechanical assemblies has produced works of art, even if they are more likely to be displayed on wrists than on gallery walls. More recently, this aptitude has made Switzerland a magnet for med-tech research and manufacturing. That may not qualify as a marker on the cultural maps of the world, but it is profoundly improving the quality of life of patients, not to mention the quality of economic life in Switzerland.
Approximately 600 medical technology companies operate in this small Alpine nation, and many of them are located in western Switzerland, according to regional development agency DEWS – Development Economic Western Switzerland. The area is a microcosm of the medical technology industry at large: multinationals such as Johnson & Johnson and Medtronic rub elbows with university start-ups. They share the same reasons for setting up shop here: the availability of highly skilled labour, an abundance of subcontractors supplying a full range of services, and proximity to a dynamic research environment. Not to mention the stunning physical beauty of the region that keeps locals sitting tight and lures outsiders in. Throw those ingredients together, and you have the makings of a dynamic medical device manufacturing cluster.
People Power
“We can truly characterize the area as a med-tech cluster,” says Raphaël Conz, DEWS deputy manager. “Johnson & Johnson came to Neuchâtel with five people back in the 1990s. Thanks to acquisitions, notably DePuy, and organic growth, they now employ 1000 people. Then there is Stryker, Kyphon, which was bought by Medtronic, the list goes on and on,” says Conz. (The list in its entirety can be accessed at www.swiss-medtech.org/industry/company_database.)
In addition to the region’s precision engineering heritage, Conz cites the flexibility and productivity of the labour force as another reason companies flock here. According to national development agency Location Switzerland, as much as 44% of the working population is active in the science and technology sectors. Moreover, the labour force in Switzerland reportedly works more hours per year than those in any other European country.
Myriad Subcontracting Opportunities
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One of the things that André Haemmerli, CEO of Johnson & Johnson in Switzerland, likes about western Switzerland is the ready availability of qualified subcontractors. “What is so unique about [this] area . . . is that you can jump in your car and, in two hours, find all the partners you need to develop advanced medical devices,” says Haemmerli.
Contract manufacturers specializing in everything from micromachining and electronics manufacturing services to surface treatment and materials testing are scattered throughout the foothills and valleys of the region. More than a dozen such firms are profiled in the accompanying section; many more can be found in our online European Suppliers Directory at www.sourcebookonline.co.uk. They all have a longstanding tradition working with med-tech manufacturers; some, like RMS in Bettlach, have had a global impact on medical technology.
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A passion for precision isn’t the only thing that keeps med-tech companies coming to western Switzerland. The country’s envied quality of life and natural beauty also play a role.
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In consultation with a group of surgeons toward the end of the 1950s, industrialist Robert Mathys Sr. developed stainless-steel implants and instruments for bone surgery. Through the years, Mathys Ltd. Bettlach established a worldwide presence developing, producing, and distributing products for operative fracture treatments, artificial joint replacements, and bone graft substitutes. In the mid-1980s, Mathys established a nonprofit organization to promote medical and clinical research, and, in 1992, the RMS Foundation was introduced as an independent testing and research lab.
RMS now offers its materials testing expertise to OEMs in Switzerland as well as in other parts of the world. It also continues to devote a substantial amount of time to research and, in the words of Beat Gasser, PhD, head of testing and consulting and research co-leader, to problem solving. “We take a multidisciplinary approach, pulling information from everywhere and putting it together to solve a problem.”
Driving Innovation with R&D
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Switzerland’s total expenditure on research represents 2.6% of gross domestic product, one of the highest percentages in the world. Many of the suppliers profiled in the accompanying section invest substantially in their future. For support, medical technology companies also can turn to a network of research centres and universities that stress innovation applied to real-world technologies.
The Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (EPFL) is emblematic of the Swiss approach to aligning education, research, and industry at world-class levels. One of two federal institutes of technology, EPFL supports a start-up incubator, coaching services, study programmes in entrepreneurship, and innovation programmes designed to build bridges between the lab and industry. The Science Park on campus is home to more than 100 companies and is a magnet for investors.
“EPFL has a clear focus on medical technology,” notes Christian Martens, marketing director at nearby Unimed (Lausanne), a supplier of metal tubing and assemblies. Institute president Patrick Aebischer deserves a lot of credit for promoting a collaborative approach that ties together academe with industry and the university hospital, according to Martens. “It’s not all ivory tower type of research.”
The region boasts other research centres, many devoted to microtechnology, that feed the region’s innovations. See the accompanying article on research and technology centres, “The State(s) of Research,” for more information.
Quality of Life
A skilled and reliable workforce, an extensive network of suppliers, and research organizations focused on real-world applications continue to attract med-tech companies to Switzerland. But the country’s vaunted quality of life and spectacular natural beauty don’t hurt either. That helps suppliers, as well. “Executives love it here,” says Martens. “That makes it easy for me to sell them our products . . . they love coming back!”
