Emerging Technologies: Switzerland offers the best framework conditions
Emerging technologies such as data & analytics, artificial intelligence and blockchain have experienced a major boost in recent years. Companies around the world and in Switzerland are increasingly recognizing that the interaction of these new technologies can make a decisive contribution to business success.
Cloud solutions, data analytics, artificial intelligence, blockchain or 5G - no forward-looking company can ignore technology topics today. A look at the Global Emerging Technologies Survey by KPMG International shows this. 900 business and technology executives from the 2,000 largest global companies were surveyed last year about their attitudes and plans in the technology sector.
Great interest in emerging technologies
Interest in emerging technologies is very high, the survey reveals, with 80 percent of companies already investing in new technologies or planning to do so. Nearly 60 percent of executives said the pandemic had added impetus to digital transformation. And more than half of respondents cited migration to the cloud as an absolute priority.
"In Switzerland, too, we are seeing immense interest from companies in technology topics," says Mark Meuldijk, Partner and Head of Data & Analytics and Emerging Technologies at KPMG. "That's a good thing, too. After all, companies need to move with the times in order to be able to identify the opportunities and risks of digitalization. Companies that approach digital transformation strategically and holistically can achieve longer-term competitive advantages and operate profitably in the long term."
Good framework conditions in Switzerland
The conditions for companies in Switzerland to benefit from digitization are certainly in place. For example, Switzerland was ranked as the most innovative country in the world in the Global Innovation Index 2020 of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO). Tech giants with offshoots in Switzerland, for example, are taking advantage of this innovation climate.
Efforts to foster a technologically innovative environment have already yielded considerable success, KPMG notes. Within just a few years, for example, the canton of Zug has developed into a major blockchain hub known as Crypto Valley, with more than 380 blockchain companies. In addition, renowned education and research centers such as ETH Zurich and EPFL in Lausanne regularly occupy the top positions in international university rankings. Together with other institutions, they train specialists who are urgently needed for digitization. All of this offers the best conditions for local companies to exploit the opportunities of digitization to their advantage.
Source: KPMG
