Baselruns on a handful of strong industries. If you’re job-hunting or weighing a move, here’s where the opportunities (and the big-name employers) are.
Top industries & employers
Pharmaceuticals & life sciences
Roche, Novartis, Lonza, Bachem, Idorsia, Actelion legacy sites
One of the densest pharmaceutical clusters on earth. Roche's Bau 2 at 205 metres is the tallest building in Switzerland, and the two headquarters face each other across the Rhine.
Chemicals & agriscience
Syngenta, Clariant, BASF Grenzach, Huntsman
The industry that made the city — Basel's dye works became its chemical industry and then its pharmaceutical one. Much of the manufacturing now sits on the German and French sides of the border.
Banking & financial regulation
Bank for International Settlements, Basler Kantonalbank, Bâloise
The BIS is the central bank of central banks and the reason global capital rules are named after this city. It has its own headquarters agreement and its staff hold FDFA legitimation cards rather than Swiss permits.
Logistics & the Rhine port
Port of Switzerland, Ultra-Brag, Rhenus, Contargo
Switzerland's only cargo seaport connection runs through Basel — the Rhine terminals at Kleinhüningen and Birsfelden handle a significant share of the country's imported fuel and containers.
Art, culture & the trade fair
Art Basel, MCH Group, Kunstmuseum, Fondation Beyeler
Art Basel is the most important contemporary art fair in the world and started here in 1970. The week it runs, the city's hotel and short-let market becomes unrecognisable.
Architecture & engineering
Herzog & de Meuron, Diener & Diener, Christ & Gantenbein
Herzog & de Meuron were born, trained and still practise in Basel, and the region has an unusual concentration of signature buildings by Pritzker laureates — several of them within a tram ride.
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