A top location for HQs

The place to be for internationally-active businesses

Schaffhausen is a particularly attractive location within Switzerland, a country already renowned as a site for headquarter functions. Switzerland's political and fiscal stability and well-educated, international workforce make it a top choice for multinationals. The Canton of Schaffhausen pursues an active development strategy, encouraging foreign investment with business-friendly policies. Over 600 internationally active companies have established their Swiss or regional headquarters in Schaffhausen.


Schaffhausen's Economic Development Agency provides tailored support to international expansion projects.

A black arrow pointing to the right on a white background.
A black arrow pointing to the right on a white background.

From industrial powerhouse to technology pioneer

With its prime location on the Rhine River, Schaffhausen's economy boomed during the Industrial Revolution. The region was a hub for heavy industry, especially iron and aluminum processing and manufacturing. As these activities offshored during the second half of the 20th century, Schaffhausen's economic engine evolved into high-tech niches in advanced materials, pharmaceuticals and medtech, food tech and agtech, mobility and robotics, and water and environmental tech.



Today, Schaffhausen excels in knowledge-intensive activities like drug discovery, polymer innovation, and industrial automation - all of which build on our rich industrial history.

Active location policy

Over the past 20 years, Schaffhausen has developed into a preferred location for internationally active companies. Thanks to the canton's reliable and active location policy, over 600 internationally active companies have established a company headquarters in Schaffhausen. Today, the many international headquarters with their various functions are just as much a part of the Schaffhausen corporate landscape as the innovative production and development companies.

Economic success story

A structural crisis, skyrocketing unemployment, a dismal outlook: In the 1990s, Canton Schaffhausen was caught in a downward spiral. Thanks to an active development policy, Schaffhausen was able not just to recover, but to thrive.

A black arrow pointing to the right on a white background.

There's more

By Gina Ochsner December 14, 2023
With viso.ai, founders Gaudenz Bösch and Nico Klingler reached a milestone in a financing round in October 2023 and are now at the forefront of the global tech industry with artificial intelligence.
November 12, 2022
Innovations deserve promotion and recognition. The most exciting and promising innovations from the Schaffhausen region are therefore honored with the IVS Innovation Award of the Schaffhausen banks. The prize, worth a total of 16,000 Swiss francs, is awarded every two years. The award is open to companies from the Schaffhausen economic region that have developed a new product or service and successfully launched it on the market.  The call for entries for the Innovation Award 2021 runs from November 1, 2022 to January 31, 2022. The finalists will be announced on March 17, 2023 at the general meeting of the IVS Industrie- & Wirtschafts-Vereinigung Schaffhausen. A jury will select the three winning projects from the final companies, which will be honored at the award ceremony in June 2023. Further information on the Innovation Award: www.its.sh.ch
September 22, 2022
For 15 years, the US agricultural technology group AGCO has its European headquarters in Neuhausen am Rheinfall. The team of around 100 employees oversees AGCO's various agricultural machinery brands for the European market and the Middle East. AGCO, the world's third-largest manufacturer of agricultural engineering technology, decided in 2007 to set up a headquarters for the European market and the Middle East. The choice fell on the Canton of Schaffhausen. The location is centrally located with great connections to the important production sites in Europe. Here they already knew the Schaffhausen GVS - the main importer for the Swiss market - and here they also found an international environment in which the future team could feel at ease, explains Frédéric Devienne. Devienne himself built up the location as Vice President and regional leader. In Neuhausen am Rheinfall, AGCO looks after brand management, strategy development, purchasing, aftersales, sales and marketing for Fendt, Valtra or Massey Ferguson agricultural machinery. Central functions such as finances and HR are also located there. Convinced of Schaffhausen as a location 15 years after the company was founded, Frédéric Devienne and Torsten Dehner, Senior Vice President and general manager for Fendt and Valtra, sit at AGCO's headquarters in Neuhausen am Rheinfall and look back on the initial days. Both have helped to form the AGCO team. Together with the team, they have developed the new European headquarters into a central part of the entire concern. "In the meantime, our Schaffhausen headquarters generates around 50 per cent of sales with its activities in Europe and the Middle East," explains Frédéric Devienne. "We feel really comfortable as AGCO in the Canton of Schaffhausen. We appreciate the business-friendly attitude, the exchange with the Business Promotion, the government or the authorities very much. As a company, we have found ideal conditions here." As the next step towards a successful future, AGCO is inaugurating a new office world for the team of around 100 at its headquarters in Neuhausen am Rheinfall. In a collaborative working environment, they want to work together even better and develop new ideas for the AGCO brand world. "Together with the team, we are looking forward to this opening and further successful years in Schaffhausen," both explain.

Schaffhausen newsletter

Are you new to Schaffhausen, or already been here awhile? Stay up to date with our newsletter! 

A black arrow pointing to the right on a white background.

We’re here to help: the Economic Promotion is a “One-Stop-Shop” for establishing a new business or expansion project in Schaffhausen.

Adrian Stettler

Your contact