For its second full year after the merger with the former DEV, Innovaud is today presenting pleasing results for 2021, which show the continued development of new innovative and technological companies in Vaud and the establishment of entrepreneurs in key sectors, confirming the strategy pursued by Vaud's economic development agency towards high value-added jobs and promising innovation centres.
In figures, this momentum is reflected in the creation of 32 new start-ups and the establishment of 29 foreign companies - which have the potential to generate more than 500 jobs in 5 years. The foreign companies that have set up in the canton of Vaud come, for example, from the precision industry, information and communication technologies (ICT) and life sciences sectors. The start-ups that were created with Innovaud's support in 2021 are mostly active in the life sciences, ICT and cleantech.
Innovaud's support for start-ups and SMEs in Vaud was demonstrated by the record number of 442 specific meetings involving nearly 370 companies and affecting more than 6,700 jobs in key sectors for the development of the Vaud economy.
It is very encouraging to see these favourable trends confirmed and further strengthened," says Patrick Barbey, Director of Innovaud. On the one hand, we see foreign entrepreneurs choosing the canton of Vaud for the quality of its workforce, the immediate proximity of universities and the stability of its legal and financial framework. On the other hand, the policy of centres of excellence around which we are building the economy of tomorrow, throughout the canton of Vaud, particularly in Payerne, Molondin and Yverdon, is producing exactly the positive effects we had hoped for: for example, the aerospace sector has been clearly strengthened, as have the life sciences and information technologies.
It should also be remembered that the Scale Up Vaud initiative managed by Innovaud and launched five years ago has seen 43 companies raise CHF 850 million in 2021 and generate 800 jobs in Switzerland, a record figure that validates the strategy of supporting the development of new companies in sectors that are promising for the Vaud economy. In total, the canton's start-ups raised more than one billion Swiss francs last year, an all-time record accompanied by three IPOs (SOPHiA GENETICS, ONWARD Medical and Astrocast).