Policy strategies for innovation in Switzerland

Abstract

The method by which a small country leveraged itself to a position amongst the world's most innovative and competitive nations in the era of globalization indeed merits assessment. Switzerland has built its once largely agriculture-based economy into a sophisticated model grounded mainly on advanced technology and services. Today, 73 percent of the workforce is employed in the tertiary sector (service sector and service industry), 23 percent in the secondary or manufacturing sector, and four percent in the primary or agricultural sector (Federal Department of Foreign Affairs, 2012a). Much of the success achieved in this economic evolution has been attributed to innovation- focused policy strategies and policy dynamics that have created of Switzerland a competitive market economy. Notwithstanding the global financial crisis, Switzerland's economy remains strong; it has one of the highest Gross National Income (GNI) per capita rates in the world, low unemployment rates with stable economic, political and financial systems (World Bank, 2012a).