Eastern Switzerland posts growth in number of newly formed companies
St.Gallen - Eastern Switzerland is one of two Swiss regions to have recorded year-on-year growth in the number of newly formed companies in the first quarter of the year. In a cantonal comparison, the canton of Appenzell Innerrhoden leads the way.
In Switzerland, a total of 12,695 new companies were established in the first quarter of 2022, which equates to a decline of 3.6 percent versus the same period of the previous year. This is a finding from the National Analysis survey recently published by the IFJ (Institut für Jungunternehmen) on start-ups. The record year of 2021 has therefore not been replicated over the first few months of 2022. In fact, year-on-year growth was recorded in just two regions of Switzerland, with South-West Switzerland (+1.2 percent) joining Eastern Switzerland’s more modest growth of +0.2 percent.
A total of 1,614 companies were founded in Eastern Switzerland during the first quarter of 2022. This represents an increase of four versus the first quarter of 2021. Broken down by canton, growth in Appenzell Innerrhoden was the highest in Switzerland. Following on from a total of 22 newly formed companies in the first quarter of 2021, a total of 33 new companies were founded in Appenzell Innerrhoden in the three months of 2022, an increase of 50 percent. After Obwalden (+19.2 percent) follows another canton of Eastern Switzerland, namely St.Gallen, where the number of company start-ups increased by 6.8 percent from 648 to 692. Glarus (+4.3 percent) and Schaffhausen (+1.0 percent) are two other cantons that form part of Eastern Switzerland where growth was also recorded. Otherwise, this was only the case in the cantons of Schwyz (+1.9 percent), Vaud (+2.2 percent) and Valais (+3.2 percent), as can be seen from the figures published by the IFJ, which is based in St.Gallen, Schlieren in the canton of Zurich, and Lausanne in the canton of Vaud.
An industry breakdown reveals that growth was highest in the high-tech area. Following a total of 68 newly founded companies in the first quarter of 2021, 105 firms were newly established in this segment in the first quarter of 2022. This represents impressive growth of +54.4 percent. Healthcare (+8.0 percent) and IT & ICT (+1.5 percent) also form part of the nine industries, out of a total of 20, in which growth was posted.