By Pierre E. Jaquier, Chief of the Geneva Economic Development Office

It is no accident that so many of the best global companies choose Geneva. Doing business across different cultures demands competent people used to working in a multicultural environment and Geneva’s quality of life and cosmopolitan atmosphere naturally attracts highly educated, multilingual people. With 43 percent of the population originating from somewhere else, Geneva has earned its reputation as an openminded place. In Geneva, working with people of different languages and cultures comes with the territory.

Diversity

One of Geneva’s unique qualities is its rich diversity in contrast to its small size. Although Geneva offers cultural programs and infrastructure (including 1,200 restaurants offering cuisine from all over the world) that any great metropolis would be proud of, life here has remained on a human scale.

This scale implies accessibility, both in geographical and human terms. Geographical accessibility, in that Geneva is small enough to move around easily and offers an excellent public transportation network, international airport and train and road network. Human accessibility, in the sense that people here are easier to contact. In most places in the world, making contact with top management of major corporations and institutions can be an arduous task. In Geneva, with its strong tradition of participation in charities, sponsoring and social events, even a newcomer can manage to meet the people he needs to. Members of Geneva’s city and cantonal governments also believe in an “open door” policy.

Many of the most important international efforts now underway – humanitarian relief, global health, peace initiatives, the establishment of telecommunication standards, the management of water resources and world trade – are coordinated through Geneva-based organizations. The presence in Geneva of these organizations adds an additional resource of expertise and information for companies. For when you are in Geneva, no place in the world is ever far away.

Leading players

Geneva's diversity, its international and cosmopolitan spirit represent great business values. This is especially true for the high-added value companies that operate on a global scale and are searching for the best talent to make sure to be and remain the leading players in future. The Geneva Economic Development Office provides companies coming from abroad and those already located in our canton with all necessary advice and help in locating their business operations, better understanding Geneva's specifics and its major advantages. Therefore we encourage all business leaders to contact us in order to get more information about this unique business location that constitutes, without any doubt, a great choice for operations in Europe.

Numerous advantages for life & business

Easy access to the whole of Europe

• All major European cities are less than two hours away
• Europe’s shortest commuting time from office or home to airport
• Direct access to three major European cultural test markets for companies

The most international and multicultural atmosphere in Europe

• A truly cosmopolitan environment: with 43% of foreign population
• The meeting place for 23 international organizations, 200 diplomatic missions and permanent representatives, 91 consulates and over 300 international NGO’s
• Around 140 headquarters of multinational companies

The cutting-edge in high added-valueand technology-driven industries

• A major centre for technical excellence and innovation
• Home to major R&D laboratories
• Part of BioAlps - the number one bio-cluster in mainland Europe
• A favorite EMEA/global headquarters location for leading companies
• World leader in banking, finance and international trading

An unparalleled quality of life

• Ranked N° 1 worldwide in terms of quality of life (Mercer Consulting Survey)
• Mixture of historical city, lake, mountains and countryside offering an unequalled range of activities
• Lively international community, a rich cultural calendar and an exceptional environmental quality

A highly skilled and productive workforce

• A highly-educated population, with 90% of youth having a secondary school certificate
• A multilingual personnel, used to a multicultural work environment
• High employee motivation

A superlative infrastructure and services

• An international airport, providing a large and complete range of services for business and private travel
• Very sophisticated telecommunications, with a dense fiber optics network
• Among world's best meeting venues
• 130 hotels with 14,000 beds capacity, the biggest hotel resort of Switzerland
• Four technology parks and three industrial areas

High security and stability

• Legal security
• Low level of regulation
• Client banking confidentiality
• First-class healthcare
• Excellent public and private education