Yet while Switzerland has topped the Global Innovation Index for years, Singapore has pursued an unflinchingly strategic modernisation agenda that has propelled it to the top of business-environment rankings such as those of the Economist Intelligence Unit. A comparison of the two does more than contrast two success stories; it highlights where Switzerland will need to sharpen its game if it wishes to defend its position in the long run.
Wealth driven by different engines
According to the International Monetary Fund, Switzerland’s nominal GDP per capita will reach around USD 111,000 in 2025, while Singapore’s stands at USD 157,200, placing the city-state among the global elite. Both countries are, undeniably, prosperous. Switzerland, however, remains the benchmark for innovation. In the 2024 edition of the World Intellectual Property Organization’s Global Innovation Index, it claims the top spot once again, with Singapore ranked among the top five. Switzerland’s dominance rests on a rare combination of academic excellence, strong private-sector research intensity and robust institutional quality.
The gap is even more pronounced in digital competitiveness. In 2025, Switzerland reached the number-one position in the IMD World Digital Competitiveness Ranking for the first time, ahead of the United States and Singapore. IMD attributes this to the depth of the country’s “knowledge capital”, the strength of its education system and its “future readiness”, the ability of firms to absorb and apply new technologies quickly.
But IMD accompanies its praise with a warning: leading today does not guarantee leadership tomorrow. The institute highlights risks stemming from trade fragmentation, skilled-labour shortages and the sluggish pace of Switzerland’s digital transformation. Such concerns echo earlier comments by Avenir Suisse director Peter Grünenfelder, who noted in a 2023 report that Switzerland remains “highly competitive”, but that “a culture of complacency is increasingly evident”, a risk, he argues, that should not be underestimated.
Talent: Singapore pulls ahead
Singapore has now overtaken Switzerland in the global contest for talent. The Global Talent Competitiveness Index 2025 places the city-state first, pushing the long-dominant Switzerland into second place. The authors cite “effective governance”, a globally oriented recruitment strategy and a highly performance-driven education system. The OECD’s latest Pisa study reinforces this assessment. Singapore placed first worldwide in mathematics, science and reading. Swiss pupils perform well above the OECD average but fall short of the global frontier.
For an export-orientated economy increasingly constrained by skilled-labour shortages, this shift represents a structural threat. Avenir Suisse warns that declining talent attractiveness, together with rising cost pressures, is “materially tightening” the competitive position of the Swiss economy.
Innovation: Switzerland excels in research, Singapore in scaling
Switzerland invests heavily in research and development. The most recent “Research and Innovation in Switzerland 2022” report puts national R&D expenditure at 3.15% of GDP. WIPO data for 2021 show an even higher figure of 3.31% – well above the OECD average.
Singapore, by contrast, recorded 1.8% of GDP in the Ministry of Trade and Industry’s 2022 National R&D Survey. Yet it performs exceptionally well in specific innovation metrics. The Global Innovation Index ranks the city-state among the leading hubs for high-tech production, digital business models and unicorn value relative to GDP.
The divergence stems from the economic environment. Switzerland produces outstanding research, but often struggles with the speed of technology transfer, with fragmented processes and with limited access to capital for scaling. The State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO) noted in its 2024 Standortanalyse that “productivity gains from digitalisation and innovation must be realised more decisively”.
Start-ups: Where Singapore has moved ahead
The clearest differences emerge in the start-up landscape. Switzerland has a vibrant entrepreneurial scene, but financing has become more difficult. The Swiss Venture Capital Report 2024 shows that VC investment fell to CHF 2.6 billion in 2023 and declined again to around CHF 2.4 billion in 2024, the second consecutive drop.
The Handelszeitung reported that Swiss start-ups are finding it “increasingly difficult to secure fresh capital”. Germany Trade & Invest similarly concludes that Swiss start-ups are “well positioned but underfunded”, and would benefit from less bureaucracy and a more internationally competitive regulatory environment.
The administrative burden is another issue. A University of St Gallen study finds that the Swiss incorporation process is “comparatively complex, lengthy and costly”.
Singapore, by contrast, has constructed a tightly coordinated support framework. Under the “Startup SG” umbrella, the government consolidates all major support instruments. The co-investment programme “Startup SG Equity” provides DeepTech firms with up to SGD 12 million, matched by private investors. In 2023, the Ministry of Trade and Industry expanded the scheme by a further SGD 440 million.
Raphael Tobler, president of the Swiss Startup Association, told Inside-IT that Switzerland must “finally move towards genuine debureaucratisation”, especially in digital identity and company formation, if it is to remain globally competitive.
Government and digitalisation: Singapore pushes ahead, Switzerland lags
Singapore’s public-sector modernisation is a cornerstone of its economic strategy. The “Smart Nation” initiative has digitised government services comprehensively; company registrations and many regulatory procedures can be completed online within hours.
Switzerland is far behind on this front. In its policy message on the 2024–2027 location-promotion programme, the Federal Council explicitly states that Switzerland shows “significant deficits in e-government”. Industry associations across ICT, healthcare and manufacturing have long argued that a modern digital administration would effectively act as a competitiveness programme without requiring additional subsidies.
Energy, planning and political models
Energy systems reveal another sharp contrast. Singapore generates roughly 95% of its electricity from natural gas, according to the national energy authority, leaving it highly exposed to global energy markets. The government aims to secure up to 30% of supply from low-carbon imports by 2035. Switzerland, by comparison, benefits from a renewable and low-carbon electricity mix dominated by hydropower and nuclear energy. Yet political wrangling over long-term energy legislation demonstrates the difficulty of executing infrastructure policy in a direct-democratic context. The two countries thus represent opposite ends of the planning spectrum. Singapore’s strategic efficiency cannot simply be transplanted into Switzerland’s federal, participatory system. But the city-state does show how long-term planning can succeed when political actors maintain a consistent direction over time.
What Switzerland can learn without losing itself
Switzerland remains one of the most successful economic locations on the planet. But Singapore’s example shows that innovation requires more than research strength: it demands speed, coherent policy and a supportive business environment.
Three lessons stand out.
Switzerland could strengthen its position further by continuing to modernise the public administration. SECO and various industry associations note that streamlining administrative processes and accelerating digital services would enhance efficiency, particularly for start-ups and internationally active firms.
In addition, greater clarity in the financing environment for innovative, fast-growing companies could help close gaps in the scale-up phase. Singapore’s co-investment approach demonstrates how carefully defined public-private mechanisms – used sparingly and with a view to mobilising private capital – can support DeepTech ventures without distorting the market. Switzerland may also wish to reassess aspects of its talent strategy. The loss of first place in the Global Talent Competitiveness Index serves as a reminder that global competition for highly skilled workers is intensifying. Singapore is neither a template for Switzerland’s political system nor a model for its societal organisation. Yet, as an economic hub, the city-state has addressed several challenges – from digitalisation to talent attraction and administrative agility – in ways that offer useful points of comparison. For a country intent on remaining among the world’s leading business locations, observing and selectively adapting such lessons could prove advantageous.
References (APA, translated)
- Avenir Suisse. (2023). Switzerland’s Competitiveness: Assessments and Analyses. Avenir Suisse.
- Cornell University, INSEAD, & World Intellectual Property Organization. (2024). Global Innovation Index 2024. World Intellectual Property Organization.
- Energy Market Authority Singapore. (2023). Singapore Energy Statistics 2023. Government of Singapore.
- Enterprise Singapore. (2023). Startup SG & Startup SG Equity: Programme Overview. Government of Singapore.
- Germany Trade & Invest. (2024). Country Report Switzerland: Start-up and Innovation Environment. GTAI.
- Handelszeitung. (2023–2024). Reports on the financing situation of Swiss start-ups. Handelszeitung.
- IMD World Competitiveness Center. (2025). IMD World Digital Competitiveness Ranking 2025. International Institute for Management Development.
- Inside-IT. (2024). Interview with Raphael Tobler (Swiss Startup Association). Inside-IT.ch.
- International Monetary Fund. (2025). World Economic Outlook Database 2025. International Monetary Fund.
- Ministry of Trade and Industry Singapore. (2023). National R&D Survey 2022. Government of Singapore.
- Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. (2023). PISA 2022 Results. OECD.
- Swiss Federal Council. (2023). Message on Location Promotion 2024–2027. Swiss Confederation.
- State Secretariat for Economic Affairs. (2024). Switzerland’s Location Analysis 2024. SECO.
- State Secretariat for Education, Research and Innovation. (2022). Research and Innovation in Switzerland 2022. SBFI.
- Swiss Venture Capital Report. (2024). Swiss Venture Capital Report 2024. SECA & investiere.ch.
- University of St. Gallen. (2023). Study on the Incorporation Process in Switzerland. University of St. Gallen.
