Annual Report 2025

Basel Area Business & Innovation can report significant impact made across all three cantons in the region. In Basel-Stadt, 20 settlements and 27 company foundations that we supported are set to create around 250 new jobs over the next 3–5 years. Basel-Landschaft saw 14 settlements and 14 company foundations, with approximately 110 jobs planned. And in the Jura, 4 settlements and 5 company foundations will generate around 30 jobs, reflecting growing momentum across the entire region.

In 2026, Basel Area Business & Innovation marks its 10-year anniversary – a decade defined by one goal: making the Basel Area more competitive, innovative and attractive across all three cantons.

The results show what sustained, coordinated economic development can deliver when public partners, academia and industry pull in the same direction – and when investment and innovation promotion as well as infrastructure management operate as one integrated organization.

What our impact looks like in practice

Over the past decade, our work has helped catalyze measurable outcomes for the region, including:

• 300+ company settlements
• 650+ company foundations
• CHF 950+ million in funding raised by startups we supported

Behind each number is regional value creation: tax revenue, jobs, know-how and innovations translated into real-world products and services.

In addition to these headline numbers, we have helped build the right infrastructure that innovative companies need to grow:

• Acceleration programs have supported ventures to move faster from idea to market – including world leading initiatives such as BaseLaunch and DayOne.
• While managing the Switzerland Innovation Park Basel Area (which also celebrates its 10-year anniversary in 2026), we have developed the hub into Switzerland’s largest life sciences-focused innovation park, strengthening the region’s ability to host and grow cutting-edge R&D and high-value jobs.

A model that other regions come to learn from

We have helped establish the Basel Area as a pioneer of an integrated approach, combining our refreshed Land, Launch and Level up service offerings under one roof. This model has drawn attention beyond Switzerland, with delegations from other regions – as far away as Singapore – visiting to learn how we connect economic promotion goals to practical, high-impact implementation.

Cross-cantonal innovation promotion for a decade

The region’s strong development over the last ten years is also the result of sustainable, cross-cantonal cooperation between the cantons of Basel-Stadt, Basel-Landschaft and Jura. Basel Area Business & Innovation is responsible for the implementation of joint innovation projects, while Regio Basiliensis acts as a coordination body. What began with a few cross-cantonal projects has developed into a firmly established regional initiative to promote innovation. Investments by the public sector lead to concrete support for companies and entrepreneurs – with tangible economic effects for the region.

The cantons and the federal government finance the cooperation, supplemented by third-party funding from private individuals. The federal government’s partner is SECO, which supports cross-cantonal innovation promotion as part of the new regional policy (NRP). This makes it possible to invest in the areas of life sciences, advanced manufacturing, digital innovation and others.

The so-called Regional Innovation System Basel-Jura aims to strengthen innovation and thus also the value creation, competitiveness and attractiveness of the Basel Area in cooperation with the economy, science and the public sector – with a particular focus on peripheral areas.

The activities are paying off. In the 2026 Cantonal Innovation and Creativity Index (KIKI), the canton of Jura made a significant leap forward and reached 10th place. The Jura achieved strong values in particular in the areas of patents, trademarks and designs, companies and start-ups, and economic growth. Progress such as this is the result of sustainable cooperation, targeted promotion and long-term commitment.

Our impact is strongest when we build with the ecosystem, not beside it. In 2025, we partnered with key players across the three cantons to turn shared priorities into concrete outcomes: connecting the cantons, institutions, companies and innovators to deliver practical results, higher visibility and stronger regional value creation.

Here are just a few examples:

• We ran two Open Innovation Challenges, one in partnership with the University Hospital Basel and Personalized Health Basel, and the other alongside the Kantonsspital Baselland.
• We helped deliver a packed day of presentations, exchanges and workshops at a major innovation conference held at the Technical Division of CEJEF in the canton of Jura.
• We were happy to host the Jura Chamber of Commerce & Industry’s year-end “winter apero” networking event.

Events are one of the most efficient ways to turn a strong ecosystem into real action, bringing the right people into the same room to spark partnerships, accelerate learning and build momentum. In 2025, our event program convened nearly 7,000 founders, SMEs, global enterprises, researchers and public-sector leaders around the topics that matter most for the Basel Area’s growth.

Below are some impressions from just a few of our meetings and events in 2025.