"At the beginning of an innovation, there is always basic research."
In an interview to Swiss Biotech Report 2022, data scientist Ernst C. Wit explains which factors are important for an innovative country.
Switzerland has consistently been the most innovative country in the world over the last eleven years. This is according to the Global Innovation Index of the World Intellectual Property Organization. Academic research is very important for this success, says Ernst C. Wit, professor of statistics and data science at the Università della Svizzera italiana in Lugano: "At the beginning of an innovation, there is always basic research." For example, a direct path can be traced from Covid-19 vaccines back to research projects at universities in the 1970s and 1980s, says the SNSF-funded researcher in an interview in this year's Swiss Biotech Report.
The Swiss Biotech Report is the product of a collaboration between nine Swiss organisations of the research and innovation sector led by the Swiss Biotech Association. This year's report, titled "Sources of Swiss innovation," presents the most important developments in the biotech scene in 2021 and explains the reasons for its success.