“It has been another very gratifying year for the economic region of the Basel Area,” says Christof Klöpper, CEO of Basel Area Business & Innovation. “We achieved excellent results in 2022 with regard to both new companies settling here and startups founded.” The number of startups supported by Basel Area Business & Innovation even reached an all-time high. 96 startups made use of the agency’s services in the founding process. That is 20 more than the previous year. Most of the newly founded firms operate in the life sciences sector (21), followed by services (18), construction (11) and ICT (10). A large proportion of the startups benefited from advisory services under the Venture Mentoring Programme, which offers sector, client and technology-specific support. This mentoring for startups offer was taken up, for example, by the Basel cleantech company Kuori, which has already secured financing to the tune of 2.3 million euros and hence made a very impressive start since it was founded in the spring of 2022.
High number of companies settling here confirms attractiveness of the Basel Area
The attractiveness of the Basel Area was also reflected last year in the fact that the number of firms settling in the region remained high. Of the 35 new companies that set up shop in the Basel Area, almost two-thirds operate in the life sciences-sector. Of these 24 companies, 5 fall under the category of digital health innovations. The companies that have settled in the cantons of Basel-Landschaft, Basel-Stadt and Jura with the support of Basel Area Business & Innovation come from 16 different countries. Of these, 14 are European (e.g. Tenpoint Therapeutics), 7 are Asian (e.g. Acro Biosystems) and 6 are from the US (e.g. LifeMine Therapeutics). 8 companies moved here from cantons outside the Basel Area. Domenico Scala, President of Basel Area Business & Innovation, sums up the record as follows: “Companies, whether big or small, find everything they need for healthy development in our economic region. The entire value chain is here, from startup to established company. We have venture capital, state aid and functioning interfaces between business and research.”
