Today in Switzerland: A roundup of the latest news on Wednesday
Find out what's going on today in Switzerland with The Local's short roundup of the news.
Russian gas embargo could disrupt Switzerland
After the Bucha massacre, new EU sanctions against Russia are expected to follow, possibly including gas embargo — a move which would impact Switzerland significantly, according to energy expert Andreas Tresch.
The reason is that one in five Swiss households uses gas for heating and 7.5 percent of national energy needs are supplied by Russia.
“Switzerland would face a real problem if this were to happen,” Tresch told Blick.
Germany and other EU countries have gas stocks as well as the supply alternatives from other nations, which means they “have a considerable advantage over Switzerland”,he said
READ MORE: What would an embargo on Russian gas look like?
Single-family homes are becoming scarcer in Switzerland
A new trend is growing in Switzerland’s property market: according to a new real estate study by the Zürcher Kantonalbank ZKB, a large proportion of older single-family houses are being demolished and replaced by multi-family dwellings like apartment buildings.
In the canton of Zurich alone, almost 400 single-family homes were demolished last year to make space for new construction, said ZKB’s real estate expert Jörn Schellenberg.
He added that "the single-family house is becoming obsolete in the rest of Switzerland as well," because there is a shortage of building land throughout the country and housing must therefore be densified.
Switzerland is the leader in patent filings
If you think the Swiss are unimaginative, think again: Switzerland is the country with the most inventions in the world per capita, according to the European Patent Office (EPO).
Per million inhabitants, Switzerland remains the lead, followed by Sweden, Denmark, the Netherlands and Finland.
EPO press release screenshot
By canton, inventors from Zurich filed the most applications, followed by Vaud, Basel-City, Aargau, Geneva and Neuchâtel. These six cantons are among the top 30 regions in Europe in number of patent applications.
In term of sectors, that of medical technologies has applied for the most patents, followed by consumer goods, metrology, electronic devices and machinery, as well as pharmaceuticals, chemicals and biotechnology.
As for which Swiss companies asked for most patents, pharmaceutical giant Roche is in the first place and the electro-technical group ABB in the second. Next are Japan Tobacco and Philip Morris, followed by Nestlé and Swatch Group.
In case you are wondering what the Swiss invented in the past, the answer is here:
12 life-changing inventions you didn’t know were Swiss
Employment: Almost 250,000 Swiss job are up for grabs
Swiss x28 AG job platform recorded nearly quarter of a million vacancies in the first quarter of 2022.
Most employment opportunities right now (13,698 vacancies) are in the health sector, followed by construction (12,585 vacancies), retail trade, the IT sector, as well as restaurants and hotels, each with more than 11,000 vacancies.
Most of the job offers (55,942) are found in the canton of Zurich. Next are Bern (40,787), Aargau (17,448), and St. Gallen (16,117)
If you have any questions about life in Switzerland, ideas for articles or news tips for The Local, please get in touch with us at [email protected]
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Russian gas embargo could disrupt Switzerland
After the Bucha massacre, new EU sanctions against Russia are expected to follow, possibly including gas embargo — a move which would impact Switzerland significantly, according to energy expert Andreas Tresch.
The reason is that one in five Swiss households uses gas for heating and 7.5 percent of national energy needs are supplied by Russia.
“Switzerland would face a real problem if this were to happen,” Tresch told Blick.
Germany and other EU countries have gas stocks as well as the supply alternatives from other nations, which means they “have a considerable advantage over Switzerland”,he said
READ MORE: What would an embargo on Russian gas look like?
Single-family homes are becoming scarcer in Switzerland
A new trend is growing in Switzerland’s property market: according to a new real estate study by the Zürcher Kantonalbank ZKB, a large proportion of older single-family houses are being demolished and replaced by multi-family dwellings like apartment buildings.
In the canton of Zurich alone, almost 400 single-family homes were demolished last year to make space for new construction, said ZKB’s real estate expert Jörn Schellenberg.
He added that "the single-family house is becoming obsolete in the rest of Switzerland as well," because there is a shortage of building land throughout the country and housing must therefore be densified.
Switzerland is the leader in patent filings
If you think the Swiss are unimaginative, think again: Switzerland is the country with the most inventions in the world per capita, according to the European Patent Office (EPO).
Per million inhabitants, Switzerland remains the lead, followed by Sweden, Denmark, the Netherlands and Finland.
EPO press release screenshot
By canton, inventors from Zurich filed the most applications, followed by Vaud, Basel-City, Aargau, Geneva and Neuchâtel. These six cantons are among the top 30 regions in Europe in number of patent applications.
In term of sectors, that of medical technologies has applied for the most patents, followed by consumer goods, metrology, electronic devices and machinery, as well as pharmaceuticals, chemicals and biotechnology.
As for which Swiss companies asked for most patents, pharmaceutical giant Roche is in the first place and the electro-technical group ABB in the second. Next are Japan Tobacco and Philip Morris, followed by Nestlé and Swatch Group.
In case you are wondering what the Swiss invented in the past, the answer is here:
12 life-changing inventions you didn’t know were Swiss
Employment: Almost 250,000 Swiss job are up for grabs
Swiss x28 AG job platform recorded nearly quarter of a million vacancies in the first quarter of 2022.
Most employment opportunities right now (13,698 vacancies) are in the health sector, followed by construction (12,585 vacancies), retail trade, the IT sector, as well as restaurants and hotels, each with more than 11,000 vacancies.
Most of the job offers (55,942) are found in the canton of Zurich. Next are Bern (40,787), Aargau (17,448), and St. Gallen (16,117)
If you have any questions about life in Switzerland, ideas for articles or news tips for The Local, please get in touch with us at [email protected]
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