Switzerland Announces Winners of Significant Investment Projects for 2009

WASHINGTON, Nov. 3, 2010 /PRNewswire/ -- Edwards Lifesciences Corporation, Pall Corporation, Disney Research, and Measurement Specialties will receive "Tell Awards" for Switzerland's most significant inward investment projects by North American firms in 2009, reports Mario Brossi, North American senior advisor for Switzerland Trade and Investment Promotion. The awards are named for the legendary Swiss hero William Tell and will be presented on November 8 by Switzerland's newly arrived Ambassador to the U.S. Manuel Sager.

The Tell Awards date from 2004 in a program originally recognizing projects by North American firms, Mr. Brossi said.  Since then, Tell Awards have also been made in Brazil and Mexico. The program has grown in terms of interest expressed in Switzerland and abroad. Awards are sponsored by the Swiss Embassy, Switzerland Trade and Investment Promotion, and the American – Swiss Business Council based in Washington.

The most significant expansion project award for 2009 goes to Edwards Lifesciences Corporation.  It recognizes Edwards for its new regional headquarters in Nyon, which serves the company's growing EMEA operations from a central location.  Edwards also maintains a manufacturing facility in Horw.

The most significant headquarters project award for 2009 goes to Pall Corporation, which inaugurated its new European HQ in Fribourg to initially house the company's life sciences business in Europe, but with plans to integrate the industrial business in Europe by 2011.

The award for the most significant innovative technology investment in 2009 goes to Disney Research Zurich (DRZ), a joint venture between Disney and the Federal Institute of Technology Zurich (ETHZ).  The only one of its kind in Europe, DRZ research projects are aimed at Walt Disney's animation studios and Disney's theme parks. One of the labs key areas is animation and modeling of human faces.

Measurement Specialties will receive the award for the most significant manufacturing investment in 2009 recognizing its purchase of Intersema Sensoric SA, located in Bevaix. Intersema designs and manufactures high precision MEMS-based pressure sensors for consumer, industrial and medical applications.

Previous award winners are Baxter International, Yahoo!, Alcon Corporation, AGCO, Medtronic, CSL Behring, Merck & Company, Albany International, Intuitive Surgical, Johnson & Johnson, Autodesk, CEMEX, Electronic Arts, Kyphon, Microsoft, Amgen, IBM, Stryker, VeriSign, Celgene, eBay, Google and P&G. Please see our website at www.locationswitzerland.com for copies of previous releases.

"Switzerland continues to be an attractive FDI destination in terms of new and expanded investments," Mr. Brossi commented.  "For example, A. D. Little's November 2009 study 'Global and Regional Headquarters in Switzerland' states that between 2003 and 2009, 269 headquarters transferred to Switzerland. Of these 54% are from the U.S., 29% from Europe, and the balance from Asia and elsewhere."

The report states that reasons for choosing Switzerland as an HQ location include economic competitiveness, an attractive tax system, highly qualified labor, a central location with excellent infrastructure, quality of life and support from administrative authorities.

Surveys also rank Swiss companies as the most innovative in Europe, dispelling the myth that the country's ideas often fail to find commercial success at home, according to an article in SwissInfo. Switzerland climbed one place to top the European Innovation Scoreboard issued by the European Union in March 2009. And research by the KOF Swiss Economic Institute reveals that innovation really does translate into cash.

SOURCE Switzerland Trade and Investment Promotion USA