Basel: What’s behind the success of one of Europe’s leading biotech hubs?

The Basel Area in Switzerland is home to one of Europe’s brightest biotech ecosystems. Over the years, it has proven to be the favored location for many of the world’s biggest, best, and newest innovators in the life sciences industry and is the leading European hub for pharma giants. This is primarily thanks to factors such as a rich network of scientists, cutting-edge research and development (R&D), and thriving commercial ventures. 

In this article, we delve deeper into what makes Basel’s biotech and overall life sciences hub so successful. 

Basel: A well-established life sciences ecosystem 

It goes without saying that you cannot have a leading biotech ecosystem without the ability to attract the right kind of companies. And the Basel Area has managed to do just that, with the vast majority of companies that settle in the region being actively involved in life sciences. 

According to a recent press release from Basel Area Business & Innovation, an investment and innovation promotion agency, out of the 36 companies that settled in the region last year, 26 of those – around three-quarters – were in some way involved in the life sciences industry. 

It also helps that the region has a large big pharma presence. It is already home to major corporations like Roche and Novartis, which have their global headquarters in Basel, and has long been an attractive place for foreign big pharma companies, too, with the likes of Bayer, Boehringer Ingelheim, Johnson & Johnson, and Moderna based there. 

According to Christof Klöpper, chief executive officer (CEO) of Basel Area Business & Innovation, the Basel Area has developed from a cluster of the chemical and pharmaceutical industry to a biopharma innovation ecosystem. “Just 30 years ago, most companies were active in both the chemical and pharmaceutical industries. This changed fundamentally in the 1990s: chemicals and pharmaceuticals went their separate ways. That’s when big players like Novartis, Roche, and Syngenta shaped the location. Subsequently, new players such as Actelion and Basilea emerged from the large pharmaceutical companies.”

Klöpper told Labiotech that, in addition to these corporations, there are around 800 other life sciences companies in total that are active in the Basel Area. 

But what exactly is attracting all of these companies to the region? “They have around 33,000 well-trained talents at their disposal, making the Basel Area the largest and deepest talent pool for life sciences in Europe,” explained Klöpper. “From R&D to commercialization, the density, quality, and diversity of experience of Basel Area’s talent pool is unmatched anywhere else on the continent.” 

The Basel Area’s world-class biomedical research institutions, such as the University of Basel, ETH Zürich, Friedrich Miescher Institute for Biomedical Research, Botnar Institute of Immune Engineering, and Roche’s Institute of Human Biology, are major contributing factors to the area’s talent pool and overall life sciences ecosystem. 

Additionally, the expansion of innovation spaces is increasingly attracting companies to the region. A good example of this is the Switzerland Innovation Park Basel Area, which is successfully bringing in companies from biotech, medtech, and healthcare at its three sites in Allschwil, on the Novartis Campus, and in the Jura. 

Biotech in Basel: A leading venture capital hub

Of course, investment is also key to the success of Basel’s biotech hub. 

In fact, when looking at Switzerland as a whole, no other industry in Switzerland receives as much venture capital as the biotech sector. The latest edition of the Swiss Venture Capital Report showed that Swiss biotech startups received around 739 million Swiss francs ($910 million) from investors, representing an increase of 50% compared to the previous year. 

Companies in the Basel Area are the primary recipients of this investment. With 328 million Swiss francs ($403 million) in venture capital, biotechs in the region received around 44% of the funds invested in the biotech sector in Switzerland, which was significantly more than in any other Swiss region. 

An impressive example of this was company Alentis Therapeutics’ $181.4 million series D financing round in November 2024, which went down as the second-largest private biotech investment of that month. Alentis is based on the Main Campus of Switzerland Innovation Park Basel Area and is an accelerator portfolio company of BaseLaunch, which is a major European biotech incubator and accelerator and has played an important role in the success of Basel’s biotech hub. Meanwhile, Bright Peak Therapeutics, also based at the innovation park in Allschwil, secured the third-largest financing round of last year, with 80 million Swiss francs ($98 million). 

On the whole, the Swiss Venture Capital Report listed a total of 20 companies in the Basel Area that received financing from investors last year.

“The year 2025 also started promisingly with a series A financing of $200 million for Windward Bio and a series A financing of $86 million for RhyGaze. Both companies are based in Basel,” added Klöpper.

Basel: A favorable environment for innovation, set to attract even more companies in the future  

While Switzerland is home to other regions with biotech companies based there, like Geneva and Zurich, Klöpper said that, compared to the Basel Area, these regions simply “do not have the same importance as density and dynamics of life sciences companies are lower and the talent pool is not as strong.”

In December 2024, EY-Parthenon released a report that reinforces the Basel Area’s reputation as a leading hub for life sciences innovation. The study essentially validates the Basel Area’s remarkable efficiency and productivity relative to its size, excelling in stakeholder density, infrastructure, and strategic investment. It also demonstrates that the region excels in clinical trial activity and per capita output in patents and pipeline assets. 

When we asked Klöpper whether he believes that Basel’s biotech and life sciences hub will continue its growth trajectory in the future, he responded: “Yes, the dynamic ecosystem is now so attractive that we can see a ‘pull-factor’ attracting other life sciences companies to come to the Basel Area. Therefore, I believe that we are on the right track for the future. This is also demonstrated, for example, by the fact that the Basel Area has prevailed against global competition as the location for the Botnar Institute of Immune Engineering. The research institute is financed by a donation of more than 1 billion US dollars across a period of 15 years – you usually only hear about such sums in the USA.”

Klopper also pointed out the other important aspects of the Basel Area that can act as a pull factor for companies. For one, this includes a high quality of life, which is an important factor that helps to bring in talents from all around the world. “It’s an area where the life sciences support the arts, architecture, and cultural scene. The city’s small scale allows for easy access and good mobility.” 

Furthermore, he said that the Basel Area has an ideal geographical location with direct access to Europe’s biggest markets and has open borders with its immediate neighbors, Germany and France. Plus, it also has political and economic stability, which are big factors for any company deciding to move to a specific region.

“The density of the entire life sciences ecosystem is unmatched,” stressed Klöpper.  “Basically, the entire city is a life sciences campus. That’s unique. The transformative power of this ecosystem is impressive. The many new drugs that are in development and the many successful startups which do succeed in our region show that this ecosystem has everything to be successful.”