The ten major companies in the sector spent in 2010 around 7.1 bn CHF for research and development in Switzerland. The turnover of these companies in Switzerland amounted to only around 2.7 billion CHF. Even if all this income could be used for financing R&D (i.e. if manufacturing and marketing of these would not incur costs), a huge financing gap arises.
This gap can only be closed if part of the sales profits made abroad are transferred to Switzerland. Without this repatriation of profits, the Swiss research location with its central management functions would be inconceivable.
Funding via a comprehensive licensing of the research results is not possible given the present scale of research. The most important method of funding is and continues to be the export of goods from Switzerland. The manufacture of intermediates and finished products - particularly of active ingredients - in Switzerland and their export to subsidiaries and third parties is an economic necessity for our industry. |
