«Let’s get things on track, now!»
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Compared to other countries, the Swiss economy is surprisingly robust: Growth prospects remain positive and the unemployment rate is even at its lowest in a decade. But the prospects are becoming increasingly gloomy. Inflation is eating away at the purchasing power of wages, the strong Swiss franc is hampering international competitiveness, and consumer sentiment has fallen to record lows in important markets such as Germany. The threat of energy and gas shortages this winter is manifesting in explosive price developments.
This makes it all the more important to take the right steps now! The upcoming votes that are to be held on 25 September represent an opportunity to do exactly that: by giving us the chance to ensure attractive tax conditions for our companies, sustainably financed pension schemes and good conditions for local agriculture. Read our article and, in particular, the “Carte Blanche” by our guest author Monika Rühl, Director of economiesuisse.
Two weeks ago, we participated in the launch of the www.nicht-verschwenden.ch campaign, designed to help reduce the risk of energy and gas shortages. scienceindustries is taking part in the awareness-raising measures and, together with the other business associations, has taken its own measures to cushion the impact of these. These include, in particular, a pooling trading platform and our commitment to the cost-neutral use of dual-fuel and emergency power plants. Central to these efforts is ensuring that supply remains as secure as possible and prices manageable.
Preparing for crisis situations also means seizing the opportunities. Let’s get things on track, now!
We thank you for your interest and hope you enjoy this newsletter.
Yours sincerely
Stephan Mumenthaler, Director of scienceindustries
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Voting proposals for 25 September
scienceindustries recommends 3x YES and 1x NO
To stabilise social welfare systems and strengthen Switzerland's appeal as a business location, scienceindustries is supporting the OASI 21(AHV 21) reform, the supplementary financing of OASI and the withholding tax reform. The initiative to ban factory farming is rejected by scienceindustries.
As one of Switzerland’s largest business associations, scienceindustries represents the local chemical, pharmaceutical and life sciences sectors. These account for around 50% of all Swiss exports. In order to remain competitive on a global scale, these industries depend on Switzerland being a strong business location.
scienceindustries and its members are keenly interested in ensuring that the nationwide referendum that is to be held on 25 September 2022 strengthens Switzerland's standing and stabilises social welfare systems. That is why scienceindustries is saying “YES” to the withholding tax reform and the two OASI proposals and a firm “NO” to the initiative to ban factory farming.
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Energy and gas supply
scienceindustries is committed to security of supply
There is a real risk that the coming winter may bring with it energy shortages. In close coordination with economiesuisse and Swissmem, we prioritised the issue of electricity supply at an early stage. In addition, scienceindustries promptly called the attention of its members to this matter and urged affected companies to draw up suitable emergency plans as quickly as possible.
Discussions between scienceindustries and the relevant federal authorities have intensified in recent months. On 5 September, for example, scienceindustries took part in a round table held by Federal Councillor Guy Parmelin on “Electricity management measures”. The Energy Saving Alliance and emergency measures to ensure security of supply are generally supported by the federal government, whereby pharmaceuticals, chemistry and life sciences are classified as critical infrastructures.
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Survey
Your feedback on our newsletters
Over the summer months, we asked you, our valued readers, to provide us with feedback on our various newsletters as part of a survey. We are delighted to share the various responses with you.
Our wide range of newsletters provide you with regular updates on our position regarding current economic policy issues. This makes us all the more interested in whether our various digital letters are read and of what interest they are to our readers. We would like to take this opportunity to thank you for your feedback on our survey before the summer break.
Positive feedback from our readers
Unfortunately, due to the holiday period, the response rate was low, meaning that no reliable conclusions can be drawn. Nevertheless, we would like to share the evaluation with you. It is particularly pleasing that 45% of our readers read "scienceindustries news" – our general newsletter – almost every time, with 35% even reading it every time and only around 21% reading it occasionally.
You are no doubt familiar with our website scienceindustries.ch. It reports on the innovations of our member companies and keeps you up to date on key political issues with continuously updated dossiers. We are pleased that the vast majority (65%) of survey participants like or even really like our website. By implementing ongoing improvements, we want to make our content even easier for you to access – including the news ticker launched in the fourth quarter, which features messages from the world of our members.
- If you are not yet familiar with the full range of scienceindustries newsletters and would like to subscribe to further newsletters, you can do so by visiting this link.
- If you are not yet familiar with our social media channels, please also follow us on Linkedin and Twitter to keep up to date on important matters relating to the positions of scienceindustries.
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scienceindustries is the Swiss business association for the chemical, pharmaceutical and life sciences industries. Its around 250 member companies generate more than 98% of their revenues abroad. As Switzerland's biggest export industry, this sector contributes 50% to total exports and almost 40% to private research expenses in Switzerland.
Stephan Mumenthaler, Director
Pia Guggenbühl, Head of Public Affairs and Communication
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