Swiss medtech grows twice as fast as the economy

The tenth Swiss Medtech Industry Study reports a sector generating CHF 26 billion in sales and growing at twice the rate of the Swiss economy, while flagging a marked slowdown in job creation and investment. Western Switzerland accounts for a substantial share of the country’s medtech base.

The Swiss medical technology sector generated sales of CHF 26 billion over the past year and grew by an average of 5.5 percent annually over the past two years, twice the rate of the Swiss economy as a whole, according to the tenth Swiss Medtech Industry Study, published by Swiss Medtech with the Helbling Group. The study draws on a survey of 601 medtech companies operating in Switzerland, conducted between March and May 2026.

The sector’s economic weight is substantial. Around 1,400 companies employ close to 72,000 people, more than one in every hundred workers in Switzerland, and account for roughly 10 percent of industrial value added. Exports reach around CHF 12 billion and generate a trade surplus of CHF 5.5 billion, the third largest of any Swiss industry after pharmaceuticals and watchmaking. The sector invests around 12 percent of turnover in research and development, placing it among the most research-intensive industries in the country. Medical technology accounts for 7.9 percent of Swiss healthcare expenditure, and its costs have risen by 1.9 percent a year over the past decade against 3.3 percent for healthcare spending overall.

Alongside those figures, the study records a set of leading indicators pointing to a loss of momentum. Net job creation amounted to around 200 positions over two years, against a ten-year average of 1,500. Some 43 percent of companies report no investment plans, the highest figure since the survey began, with the sharpest declines in planned funding for production and R&D. More than half of companies rate Switzerland’s attractiveness as a location less favorably than five years ago, and for the first time since 2018, classic medtech expertise is no longer the top-ranked reason to invest in the country.

Respondents identify domestic political stability and legal certainty as the leading positive location factor, cited by 62 percent, followed by access to skilled workers. On the other side, the strong Swiss franc, trade agreements and tariffs, wage costs and administrative requirements are the most frequently cited burdens. Swiss Medtech is calling for a reduction in bureaucratic requirements and for the removal of trade barriers through international agreements. Artificial intelligence and digitalization remain the areas companies see as holding the greatest potential: around half already use AI in business processes, and manufacturers expect the share of their R&D budget devoted to AI to roughly double, from 13 percent today to 24 percent by 2030.

Western Switzerland in the Swiss medtech map

The study’s regional breakdown shows two clusters covering much of Western Switzerland. The Lake Geneva region counts 122 manufacturers and 55 suppliers, with manufacturers concentrated in in vitro diagnostics and laboratory supplies, orthopedics and traumatology, and ophthalmology, and suppliers in components, product engineering and metal processing. The Espace Mittelland, which spans Bern, Fribourg, Neuchâtel, Jura and Solothurn, counts 126 manufacturers and 303 suppliers and is described in the study as Switzerland’s supplier stronghold, with a pronounced industrial base in metal processing.

The study also notes that Swiss-made production as a reason to invest is mentioned particularly often by companies close to the border, including those in the Lake Geneva region.