The Swiss economy is investing more and more money in digital technologies. This is the conclusion he comes to Business Cycle Research Center (KOF) of ETH Zurich after an innovation survey. The client was the State Secretariat for Education, Research and Innovation (SERI). The study covers the period from 2018 to 2020.
On average, Swiss companies invest 17% of their total investments in hardware and software. ETH writes that this is a repeated increase, but without expressing the increase in numbers. In particular, medium-sized companies (50 to 249 employees) invested more in technology during the period under review.
Robots and artificial intelligence on the rise
The number of service robots has increased particularly markedly, in all sectors and size classes. While three percent of all companies used service robots in 2018, the proportion was already seven percent according to ETH 2020. In industry, where robots are used to weld or cut parts, the proportion has risen even more. The situation is similar with artificial intelligence, as the study found. Nine percent of all companies said they rely on AI in 2020. In the case of large companies, it was as high as 30 percent, as the study authors write. According to the study, more than 20 percent of companies currently use big data, which is software for analyzing large amounts of data. This percentage has also increased since 2018.
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