The Swiss Biotech Day 2023 took place in Basel from 24 to 25 April. The event has established itself as a fixed point for the biotechnology industry far beyond Switzerland. Over 1,800 participants from 44 countries attended the conference. They were offered a rich programme with 30 panel sessions, 70 exhibitors and renowned keynotes.
In addition, this year’s meeting of the Swiss biotech industry also provided the setting for the celebration of the 25th anniversary of the Swiss Biotech Association (SBA). CEO Michael Altorfer and President Patrick Amstutz, CEO Molecular Partners and SBA President, were pleased to look back on a highly gratifying development. Alone in the past year, the SBA recorded an increase of 86 companies.
This anniversary was celebrated, among other things, with a high-profile panel session. Moderated by Michael Hengartner, President of the ETH Board, Dominik Escher, Managing Partner at Pureos Bioventures, Andreas Plückthun, Professor of Biochemistry at University of Zurich, Lutz Hegemann, President Global Health and Sustainability at Novartis, Markus Goebel, former Managing Director of Venture Capital at Novartis and Martine Clozel, co-founder and CSO of Idorsia discussed the beginnings of an industry that is now one of the most important growth pillars of the Swiss economy.
Swiss Biotech Report
Concrete figures are presented in the new Swiss Biotech Report, which was also presented at Swiss Biotech Day 2023. The report shows that although Swiss biotech companies attracted much less financing in 2022 than in the record years of 2020 and 2021, at 1.3 billion Swiss francs they were still at the same level as in 2019. It is also noteworthy here that this did not affect the continued investment in research and development. In fact, investments in research and development projects reached a new record of 2.7 billion Swiss francs in 2022. At the same time, the number of employees in the sector increased by 7.2 percent to over 19,000.
Swiss Biotech Success Stories
As in previous years, the Swiss Biotech Association honored two Swiss companies for their innovative achievements last year with the Swiss Biotech Success Stories Award: Sophia Genetics from Rolle VD and Humabs BioMed from Bellinzona TI.
Life Science Communication supported the Swiss Biotech Association with the event implementation during the two-day Swiss Biotech Day.