Significance

Zurich has the highest concentration of creative industry companies in Switzerland. Their focus is on the creation, production, distribution and/or medial distribution of cultural/creative goods and services. The creative industries cluster includes thirteen sub-sectors, as follows: 

• Music
• books
• arts
• films
• radio
• performing arts
• design
• architecture
• advertising
• software / game industry
• arts and crafts
• press / media
• recording industry

Creative Industries in Figures

According to the statistics on enterprise structure (STATENT), there were approximately 80,800 jobs in 18,400 creative industry companies in the Canton of Zurich in 2016. The total for Switzerland amounted to approximately 285,700 in 76,000 companies. The gross value added in the Canton of Zurich totalled some 8.8 billion Swiss francs, and 26.9 billion Swiss francs for Switzerland overall. Zurich is particularly strong in the sub-sectors architecture, design, game industry, music, press and advertising.  

Creative Industries Make Zurich Even More Attractive 

The creative industries sector contributes decisively to Zurich's top position in international quality of life rankings, offering a rich diversity of music, culture and gastronomy scenes and a wide choice of regularly held events.  

Well-known Representatives of Creative Industries

Zurich’s world-renowned creative industry representatives include designer Alfredo Häberli, architects EM2N, Burkhalter Sumi, Gigon/Gujer, Tilla Theus, gallery owners Eva Pressenhuber, Hauser & Wirth, bag manufacturers Freitag Bros. and the music duo Yello. Qwstion bags, VIU eyewear and On running shoes are further examples of outstanding Zurich design.    

Creative Zurich

The City and the Canton of Zurich promote the advancement of the creative industry sector with a range of Creative Zurich activities. To that end, they collaborate with partners to prepare data on the economic significance of the creative sector and support specific projects that benefit the community. They also organise Creative Zurich Wednesday events: held two to four times a year, these events focus on current topics and are open to representatives from other industries as well. Information related to Zurich’s creative industries is available on the creativezurich.ch website that also offers creative industry representatives a platform to introduce themselves.