Top of the class

Be honest, dear reader: When you hear the word “Switzerland”, what springs to mind first are mountains, holidays, upland pastures, alpine horns, happy cows, tasty cheese and – unless you happen to be less interested in sports – the name Simon Ammann. For those who don’t know: Simon Ammann won two gold medal for ski jumping at this year’s Olympic Winter Games.
Since the little Swiss sportsman beat the rest of the big winter sports world - notably last winter's top names: Sven Hannawald of Germany and Adam Malysz of Poland - he has become a symbol of Swiss competitiveness in the sports arena. Being competitive means pitting your strengths against the best in the class, in the sports arena but also elsewhere. In the chemical and pharmaceutical industry, for example, Switzerland can also measure up to the world's best and has increased its competitiveness considerably over the past few years. Syngenta, Novartis, Ciba, Roche - the buildings of the chemical and pharmaceutical industry stand like signposts along the autobahn from Zurich to Basel. For years it looked as though the giant pharmaceutical com- panies (still) had their head offices in Switzerland but were actually concentrating their growth and investments overseas, namely in the USA. A study conducted by BAK Basler Konjunkturforschung AG on behalf of Interpharma, the association of pharmaceutical companies with research activities in Switzerland, (see page 14)reveals a different picture: The growth experienced by the Swiss economy in past years is owed in large mea- sure to the success of its chemical and pharmaceutical industry. This development and the commitment displayed by Swiss companies to preserving the attractiveness of their country for business are somewhat out of step with the rest of Europe. For years now the European Union has been talking about industrial policies for the pharmaceutical industry but paid little more than lip service to the real issues. Switzerland, on the other hand, has not only preserved a climate of investment but actually im- proved it. The current picture is not entirely unblemished, however, par- ticularly when you look further afield to the American market. North America is and will remain the most important market for pharmaceuti- cal companies. Nevertheless, the success of the Swiss chemical and pharmaceutical industry is reason enough for PROCESS to dedicate a Country Special in this issue to the land of mountains, and to introduce you to a mine of innovations "Made in Switzerland".

Dr. Joerg Kempf