3 questions for Dr. Fabian Streiff, Head of Location Promotion Canton of Zurich

Fabian Streiff has been head of location promotion for the canton of Zurich since this year. Roger Graber from House of Winterthur asked Fabian about the Economic region as a whole and Winterthur in particular.

Could I ask you to briefly introduce yourself and tell us a little about yourself and your current position?
I am 37, grew up and live in the canton of Zurich and am the father of three school-age children. Over the past eight years, I have been working in Basel in the area of location promotion and later innovation promotion. Since January 2021, I have been in charge of location promotion and a member of the management team at the Office of Economic Affairs and Labor. As head of cantonal location promotion and a family man, I am driven by the question of how our Economic region will develop over the next 10-20 years. How can we take advantage of our strong starting position as Switzerland's leading Economic region and internationally renowned financial center?

In your opinion, what are the most important success factors that characterize the canton of Zurich as an Economic region and what role do the city and region of Winterthur play in this?
The canton of Zurich can not only look back on an impressive history as a financial center, but can also count on a good mix of sectors including finance, life sciences, ICT and high-tech/cleantech as well as the creative industries. We need to position ourselves even more strongly internationally, and future-oriented topics such as artificial intelligence are ideal for this. The strong universities - including the ZHAW - are drivers of innovation and make the canton of Zurich an ideal location for innovation, combined with a high quality of life and excellent accessibility in the heart of Europe. As an attractive place to work and live, the Winterthur region makes a decisive contribution to the attractiveness of the location.

What impression have you gained of the city and region of Winterthur after today?
Winterthur's transformation from an industrial location to a knowledge hub is already well advanced and startups are not only contributing to Winterthur's visibility, but also to its economic success. This is also thanks to initiatives such as "Home of Innovation", Technopark or "Runway Startup Incubator", which promote entrepreneurship in different but effective ways. At the same time, large companies such as Givaudan are present with their "Innovation Center", attracting international talent to the region. The potential for the future lies in the collaboration between start-ups and large companies.