Swiss higher education among Europe's most innovative

GENEVA - Five Swiss institutions of higher education have made it into the Reuters ranking of Europe's most innovative universities thanks to their openness and large networks that promote creativity and excellence, according to the latest Reuters rankings released on Wednesday.

The Federal Institute of Technology Lausanne (EPFL) was ranked fourth, up one place on 2017, and the Federal Institute of Technology Zurich (ETH Zurich) came in 10th, also up one place, Reuters said on Wednesday. The other three Swiss institutions were in the top 100.

The top spot was taken by KU Leuven, a Dutch-speaking school based in Belgium's Flanders region, for the third time in a row. It's followed by Imperial College London and University of Cambridge, both from the UK. University of Manchester, also from the UK ranked seventh, while the top 10 included three German universities and one from Denmark.

Besides Germany and the UK, the list showed that smaller countries can also do very well in innovation: Belgium has more top 100 innovative universities per capita than any other country in Europe, while Switzerland comes in second on this metric.

Swiss universities are a "key factor for innovation in society and in the economy," according to Martina Weiss, secretary general of the umbrella organization swissuniversities, as quoted by local media Swissinfo. "The fact that the Swiss education and research area is well-connected and open promotes creativity and excellence."

The two top-ranked Swiss federal institutes are no stranger to doing well in international rankings. In February it was also estimated that EPFL and ETH Zurich accounted for some 100,000 jobs and 13 billion Swiss francs ($13.2 billion) in added value to the economy.