U.S Think Tankers Visit Swiss Innovation Clusters

In September 2024, the Science and Technology Office in Washington D.C, in collaboration with Presence Switzerland, organized a week-long delegation visit to Switzerland for a group of selected U.S. think tankers, providing a unique opportunity to experience how regional ecosystems actively work to boost their own local expertise and how they became the driving force behind Swiss innovation. The delegation was formed of 11 American experts on innovation & science policy, coming from various cities such as Pittsburgh, Washington D.C, Phoenix, San Francisco, Nashville. As senior advisors, think tankers dedicate their time in refining their expertise, notably by observing foreign national strategies in education, workforce, research, and innovation, in order to bring back some inspiration for domestic policy-making.

As the United States seeks to revitalize regions and decentralize its innovation landscape, the opportunity to experience successful international models has never been more pertinent. Switzerland offers a compelling case study with a bottom-up and decentralized approach, enabled by a federal system which favors the emergence of regional hubs of innovation. Over the course of one week, the delegation visited 7 cities and 4 regional innovation hubs, highlighting Switzerland’s key expertise in technologies that are shaping the 21^st century; food and energy, space, microelectronics, quantum and robotics. In each city, exchanges and field visits touched on regional competencies, framework conditions and supporting ecosystems.

From innovation parks and start-ups, to international companies investing in regional R&D like Nestlé, research centers like CSEM and Paul Scherrer Institute, cantonal universities, ETH centers and Swiss government units, the study tour provided a platform to discover and compare successful models for innovation. It also allowed participants to depict a more accurate image of Switzerland and its extremely dense ties with the United States.

The “fact finding mission” format enabled the Science and Technology Office to build personal connections with rising think tankers who are expected to influence American ERI policy-making in the years to come.