Flughafenregion wants to become an economic magnet as New Zurich

(CONNECT) The FRZ Flughafenregion has launched the New Zurich development strategy. It is intended to further develop the area bordering the city of Zurich to the north and east into a magnet for the economy.

In this context, a new reader bundles the results of a four-year strategy process. It is intended to turn the discussion into action - as food for thought and with concrete ideas in five focus areas. Managing Director Rahel Kindermann Leuthard already presented an anchor partner for one of these at the launch in Dübendorf: Zürich Tourism supports the congresses and events sector; the organization was represented at the presentation by Director Thomas Wüthrich.

As an economic network, FRZ is responsible for the location development of 14 cities and municipalities around Zurich Airport. According to Rahel Kindermann Leuthard, the region has developed into one of the most economically dynamic regions in Switzerland in recent years. Now the time has come for it to finally shed its role as a transit-oriented periphery and become a high-performance, urban ecosystem, said the FRZ Managing Director, referring to the reader and emphasizing: "We don't want to let this process happen, we want to shape it."

Urban and regional strategist Thomas Sevcik considers this functional area to be characterized by the fact that, although it is developing in conjunction with the airport and the city center, it has its very own dynamic as an urban landscape in the countryside. Sevcik has developed the New Zurich concept as an approach. In addition, the structure and the location strategy basis were developed by entrepreneur and Netzwerk-Standort-Schweiz president Remo Daguati together with the cities and municipalities of the FRZ.

The strategy relates to a region with 300,000 inhabitants and over 200,000 jobs, which also includes municipalities that do not belong to the FRZ - such as Uster, the third largest city in the canton of Zurich. "Functionally, the region has long since grown together in many aspects and offers enormous potential for coordinated location development," said FRZ President and Dübendorf Mayor André Ingold. No new political structures are needed. This was also confirmed by the outgoing mayor of Wallisellen, Peter Spörri. "But a municipality alone has hardly any opportunities to attract an international company or provide extensive space for further expansion," says Spörri.

According to the strategy, New Zurich benefits from its location. This is reflected in excellent connectivity and becomes a compelling argument with available land and existing economic areas. In addition, large-scale infrastructures such as hotels, the presence of companies such as Microsoft and ABB and facilities such as the Innovation Park Zurich with the Dübendorf airfield and the Swiss Federal Laboratoriesfor Materials Science andTechnology (Empa) will score points. The five focus areas also build on this. In addition to congresses and events, these include digitalization and ICT, aviation and space economy, headquarters and international corporate functions as well as healthcare and life sciences. ce/yvh