Now it’s official: The Innovationspark Ost will be included in the Switzerland Innovation network as the sixth site operator. At today’s meeting, the Federal Council approved the corresponding proposal by the Switzerland Innovation Foundation Board.
After the successful completion of the substantive review of the application from Eastern Switzerland, the Foundation Board of Switzerland Innovation applied to the Federal Council at the end of November 2020 to include the Innovationspark Ost as a location for Switzerland Innovation. Today’s decision by the state government is a major and at the same time important milestone for the generation project. “Being mentioned in the same breath as Zurich, Lausanne and Basel is impressive proof of the high level of performance in Eastern Switzerland as a place of work and thought. As the location operator, together with our partners from research and business and the neighboring cantons as well as the Principality of Liechtenstein, we can do our part to ensure that local companies and educational institutions remain among the international leaders in the future and increase their value-added power,” says Economics Director Beat Tinner. The immense value research and innovation have for our society has become particularly evident in the current Corona times.
Focus on eastern Swiss strengths
The Innovationspark Ost incorporates the core competencies of Eastern Switzerland’s economy and universities. He focuses on the innovation priorities of health, digitization of business models as well as the mechanical, electrical and metal industries. On the research side, Empa St.Gallen and the Cantonal Hospital of St.Gallen are involved in the subject area “Health and medical technology”. In the “MEM industry” area, the research work of the Eastern Swiss University of Applied Sciences and the RhySearch research institute in Buchs are contributed. The University of St.Gallen contributes its scientific expertise to the development of new services, processes and business models. With the Lerchenfeld campus in the immediate vicinity of Empa and the Buchs campus, the Innovationspark Ost has locations with a high-quality, expandable infrastructure.
Great support from politics, business and science
The Innovationspark Ost enjoys broad support in politics, business and science. On the public side, the canton and city of St.Gallen, the cantons of Thurgau, Appenzell Ausserrhoden and Appenzell Innerrhoden and the Principality of Liechtenstein are behind the project. From the scientific side, Empa, the University of St.Gallen and the Cantonal Hospital of St.Gallen are financially involved. Swiss Textiles, the St.Gallen-Appenzell and Thurgau Chambers of Industry and Commerce, the St.Galler Kantonalbank, SFS AG, the Helvetia Group, Vifor Pharma AG, Provida AG, the Laboratory Medical Center Dr. Risch, Abraxas Informatik AG, the LAVEBA cooperative and Swissatest Testmaterials AG are represented in the sponsorship. Other companies such as Geberit AG, Fisba AG, Leica Geosystems AG, Varioprint AG, AG Cilander and Schoeller Textil AG support the Innovationspark Ost.
Implementation has started
Since the successful completion of the preliminary examination last late autumn, the driving forces behind the Innovationspark Ost have by no means remained idle. When the St.Gallen cantonal council, following the positive preliminary decision by the foundation board, approved the financial contributions for the Innovationspark Ost – 500,000 francs in share capital and ten million francs à fonds perdu for the development phase – the first concrete implementation steps were taken . In the first quarter of 2021, the chairmanship of the board of directors of the Ost Innovation Park was publicly advertised. “The job interviews are currently underway and we are confident that we will be able to nominate a competent personality for this key position in the near future,” says Beat Tinner.
