Annual report 2024

Welcome to the Basel Area Business & Innovation Annual Report 2024

On this page, we aim to provide an overview of what we achieved last year and cover just some of the region’s highlight moments to which we contributed. Our CEO and President provide some details of our new organizational strategy for 2025 and beyond. We also have some great success stories and testimonials to share. We hope you enjoy the report.

2024 was a fantastic year for Basel Area Business & Innovation and for the region. For example, we were able to support over 100 companies to either settle or start up in the region, and the startups we have supported to date together raised nearly half a billion Swiss francs of investment. I look forward to achieving great results again in 2025.

Christof KlöpperCEO Basel Area Business & Innovation

Our reflections on last year

Dear Reader, 

As we reflect on the past year, we are pleased to see how much we achieved in 2024 despite having to do so against the backdrop of what turned out to be a quite challenging economic environment. 

For example, the fact that we were able to attract a comparable number of company settlements to the region as in the previous year is a testament to the outstanding work of our team and the invaluable support of our cantonal partners. Notably, the arrival of companies such as UK Robotics and Moth Quantum underscores that our success extends beyond our traditional strength in the life sciences, helping us to be best prepared for an ever-changing business environment. 

The Basel Area ecosystem continues to evolve away from historically being dominated by global pharma and chemical corporations. A clear sign of evolution in this regard has been the significant investment secured by the founders and companies we support. In 2024, these companies collectively raised nearly half a billion Swiss francs—an exceptional achievement, particularly considering that many of them are still in the early stages of development. This investment will help drive further innovation and job creation in our region, reinforcing our position as a leading Swiss hub for entrepreneurship and growth. 

Read the full letter

Christof Klöpper

CEO, Basel Area Business & Innovation

Domenico Scala

President, Basel Area Business & Innovation

Basel Area Business & Innovation at a glance

Last year in numbers

Settling international companies in the Basel Area

36

Settlements
of these

26

in the life sciences sector

Global reach: Origin of companies

700

New jobs expected from company settlements/foundations over 5 years

Fostering innovation across the Basel Area

1,712

innovation promotion consultations held
startup icon

67

company foundations
supported

478

million CHF aggregated investment raised by our portfolio companies

Bringing the region’s ecosystem members together

46

Events

5,211

Event participants

88

Average event attendee satisfaction

85

average event attendee usefulness rating

Success stories

Basel Area Business & Innovation had a successful year in 2024, as evidenced by our KPIs. However, simple numbers often don’t paint the whole picture of how we made a significant impact on the regional ecosystem. For that, you need to read stories about the companies that we helped settle or grow here, or about the entrepreneurs we supported to found or scale their innovative businesses. The selection of articles and testimonials below give an insight into the stories behind our KPIs.

The Basel Area held off competition from locations around the world to secure an important upgrade to its life sciences ecosystem.
One of our BaseLaunch alumni companies closed out the biggest funding round in Switzerland of 2024.
SixPeaks Bio secured a 9-figure investment, and a strategic partnership with AstraZeneca.
The first edition of THE MAGNET, a new annual flagship event held on Main Campus in Allschwil, took place to rave reviews.
An innovative clean energy startup graduated to full-scale production in the Canton of Jura.
A research collaboration that could revolutionize cancer treatment came about by the partners having offices just one staircase apart.
Parents can now get real-time insights into their baby’s needs with AI-enabled monitors.

Testimonials

Strong partnerships building the regional economy

We were pleased to be able to continue building productive working relationships with our three cantonal partners in 2024. As part of this, we were able to connect them to many new companies that we brought into the region.

Presenting a shared vision with our key partners

We were pleased to host our cantonal partners as speakers at our flagship events – thanks to Kaspar Sutter, Thomi Jourdan, Jacques Gerber and Stéphane Theurillat for the great collaboration.

Jacques Gerber, Former Government Councilor of the Republic and Canton of Jura and Minister of Economy and Health, speaking at the MedTech Congress, Oct 2024 

Thomi Jourdan, Government Councilor of the Canton of Basel-Land and Head of the Department of Economic Affairs and Health, speaking at THE MAGNET, Nov 2024

Kaspar Sutter, Government Councilor of the Canton of Basel-Stadt and Head of the Department of Economic, Social and Environmental Affairs, speaking at the DayOne Stakeholder Forum meeting, Oct 2024 

Stéphane Theurillat, Government Councilor of the Republic and Canton of Jura and Minister of Economy and Health, speaking at Le Tout Connecté, Feb 2025 

Promoting connections between startups and SMEs

A highlight of the year took place in the canton of Jura, where we co-promoted the launch of “Espace NewTec”, a test platform created by the Technical Division (“DivTec”) of the Jura Centre for Education and Training. Three members of our i4Challenge accelerator cohort—Alat, DX Analytics and Data Coffee—had the opportunity to test and improve their industrial transformation solutions in a “real world” environment thanks to this platform.

Expanding the Basel Area’s world-class innovation parks

Beyond the events that we run throughout the year, perhaps the other most visible aspect of our work is the Switzerland Innovation Park Basel Area that we manage in each of the three cantons. By providing state-of-the-art infrastructure, networking opportunities, and support for startups, companies and academia, our three sites are a major driver of research and innovation in the region. 

Thanks to the ongoing work of our teams at each site, they are all expanding to be able to host the next wave of startups and scaleups that will drive future innovation for the region. Learn more about these expansions below. 

A whole new floor dedicated to innovative startups was opened in our site on Novartis Campus in July 2024 
The foundation stone for the new “ALL” building on Main Campus was laid during a ceremony held in October 2024 
The coworking space at our site in Courroux was recently expanded

Charting the path forward

We have big plans for our organization and the continuing evolution and growth of the Basel Area in 2025 and beyond. By playing to our strengths, building global connections, and nurturing an exciting innovation ecosystem, we’re helping the Basel Area stay at the forefront of life sciences and beyond. 

An optimal model for promoting regional growth
Expanding our global reach and attractiveness
startup icon
Fueling innovation and entrepreneurship
Switzerland Innovation Park Basel Area: building the future 

Our strategic approach to achieving our goals comprises of four main pillars, more details of which you can find by clicking on the relevant icon, or via the button below.

Read more

Thought leadership publications

Beyond the online articles that we frequently develop for a wider audience, we do also create more extensive publications aimed at specific target groups or experts in a particular field. Below are three of these publications that we published last year.

This handbook provides an overview of all the major research institutions based in the Basel Area that actively collaborate with commercial organizations to drive the ongoing innovation for which this area is known
Packed with insights from industry leaders, this playbook offers a comprehensive roadmap for building successful collaborations between pharma giants and healthtech startups
Unlock the potential of AI in your manufacturing SME with our AI4SME Guide. Based on real-world projects over the past three years, it demystifies AI and offers a clear, actionable path to benefit from it

We sincerely thank all our partners for their invaluable collaboration and support.

A selection of our region-focused articles

As part of our work to promote the Basel Area to people and companies who are considering settling here, we regularly publish informative articles targeting that audience on our website. Below you can find three of our best-performing articles from 2024.

The Basel Area has proven to be the favored location for many of the world’s best innovators in life sciences and the undisputed leading European hub for pharma giants 
What makes Switzerland – and the Basel Area in particular – such a great startup ecosystem? 
How can we best bring the renowned “Swiss Made” concept into the era of Industry 4.0?

Contact us

Christof Klöpper

CEO

Martin Jordan

Media & PR Manager

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4010 Basel, Switzerland

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