Switzerland has a dynamic space sector and is one of the founding members of the European Space Agency (ESA). The Swiss Space Office, in the Federal Department of Economic Affairs, Education and Research, is in charge of implementing Swiss space policy.
Policy focusses on the development of civil space applications, the long-term commitment to space exploration and the competitiveness of national actors (SERI, 2008[1]). The revised 2018-20 policy implementation plan recommends measures to continue to the implementation of these space policy priorities, specifically to support academic and private space actors, contribute to the digital transformation of Switzerland, further strengthen networks and clusters and develop space-related skills through education and training (Swiss Space Office, 2017[2]). An ESA business incubation centre opened at the Federal Institute of Technology ETH Zurich in 2016.
Switzerland allocated an estimated CHF 242 million (USD 246 million) in 2017 to civil space activities, a 67% increase in real terms compared with 2008. Most of the funding is dedicated to international activities, with the European Space Agency (ESA) accounting for 72% of the budget, European Union programmes Galileo and Copernicus 17% and EUMETSAT 8%. The largest programme priorities include science (including the participation in PRODEX), launchers, earth observation and telecom.
Higher education institutions play an important role in space-related R&D, with the Federal Institute of Technology EPF Lausanne hosting the Swiss Space Centre, and the University of Bern hosting the International Space Science Institute (ISSI). Other important space research organisations are the Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Science and Technology (EMPA), the Paul Scherrer institute (PSI) as well as all institutes in charge of scientific instruments developed under the ESA PRODEX Programme.
The Swiss space industry has strong links to the aerospace and mechanics industries. It produces subsystems for satellites and launchers (e.g. atomic clocks), instruments and sensors. Fairings developed for the European Ariane 5 and Vega launchers are also used for US Atlas launcher. More than 50% of companies are SMEs with the main actors being the subsystem suppliers RUAG and APCO. An increasing number of actors are also active in the downstream segment, with several start-ups created through the ESA Business Applications Programme and the Business Incubation Centre. Altogether, space sector employment represents more than 2 500 FTEs in Switzerland, according to the Swiss Space Industry Group (SSIG) (Meier, 2018[3]). Most companies are located close to universities and research centres and/or urban centres, with a concentration near Zurich and in the French-speaking cantons (Geneva, Lausanne). A 2015 evaluation of Swiss R&D funding instruments for space activities found that the industry was one of the most innovative and research-intensive industries in Switzerland, with a high share of exports, mostly to Europe (Swiss Space Office, 2015[4]).
Several international organisations are based in Switzerland and have space-related activities. The Group on Earth Observations (GEO) has the most direct link to the space sector, but the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO), with links to the Physical Meteorological Observatory (PMOD)/World Radiation Centre (WRC) in Davos, the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), and the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) also have space-related activities. CERN, the European Organization for Nuclear Research, signed a co-operation agreement with the European Space Agency in 2014.
Switzerland’s share in scientific publications in OECD’s “Space literature” dataset (see guide to the profiles) is comparable to that of India and Korea and has slightly increased since 2000. Switzerland’s share of space-related patent applications has decreased between 2002-05 and 2012-15, mainly due to increased activity of new and emerging economies. Satellite broadband penetration remains low, but has significantly increased since 2015. Swiss space-related development assistance projects in the period 2000-16 focussed mainly on agriculture and rural development in Asia.
