Zurich and Lausanne are strengthening their tech profiles

According to the Swiss Deep Tech Report 2026, 63 per cent of Swiss venture capital is channelled into deep tech. For Zurich, Lausanne and Basel, this reinforces their role as centres for research and business and increases the pressure on space, talent and growth financing.

Switzerland invests more of its venture capital in future technologies than any other country. The Swiss Deep Tech Report 2026 puts deep tech’s share of the total venture capital market at 63 per cent. For players in the property and business location sectors, this is more than just a start-up signal. It reinforces the major research hubs of Zurich, Lausanne and Basel as places where laboratories, development sites and locations for growth-oriented companies must come together.

The finding is also remarkable because it is not based solely on individual funding rounds. According to available data, deep tech funding in Switzerland reached a record volume of 2.6 billion dollars in 2025. ETH Zurich and EPFL are regarded as particularly strong sources of new technology-driven spin-offs. This shifts the focus of the location debate: what matters is no longer just where research is carried out, but where young companies remain after their founding, scale up and require larger premises.

Clusters with a tangible impact on space requirements
The report describes Zurich, Lausanne and Basel as the core of an Alpine technology cluster. By European standards, this region is ranked as one of only a few locations capable of competing internationally in the deep tech sector. For the property sector, this creates a concrete demand for specialised uses. The demand extends beyond traditional offices to include laboratories, pilot plants, development spaces close to production facilities, and locations near universities, capital and skilled workers.

Added to this is a structural shift within the ecosystem. AI and machine learning now account for a large proportion of start-ups since 2022, whilst robotics is also growing significantly faster. At the same time, biotech remains a cornerstone. This points to broader demand for technically equipped spaces, ranging from life sciences environments in Basel to research-oriented workplaces in the Zurich area and the Lake Geneva region.

Capital is available, but later-stage funding rounds remain tricky
The report also highlights a weakness that is relevant for business locations. In the case of very large funding rounds, the vast majority of capital comes from abroad. If Swiss investors remain more cautious in later growth phases, this increases the pressure on young companies to link their internationalisation closely to access to capital. This is a delicate issue for locations: those wishing to retain companies must not only offer research and talent, but also the space and framework conditions for scaling up.

The fact that, according to available data, deep-tech firms are more likely to remain in Switzerland than they were just a few years ago is therefore the real story behind the capital share. If this trend remains stable, the research hub will increasingly become a market for specialised property, campus structures and technology-oriented neighbourhood development.