Trade missions are often described as relationship-building exercises. This one was more than that. It was a live demonstration of what happens when ecosystems are created with intent.
I recently joined the West Yorkshire Combined Authority delegation on Track 1 in Switzerland and Germany, focused on digital, FinTech and LegalTech. What I saw across Switzerland and Germany reinforced one clear message:
Ecosystems don’t happen by accident. They are built.
And then they are funded.
Collaboration at scale
In Zurich, I saw a region that understands itself.
From the Greater Zurich Area’s AI-powered ecosystem mapping* to the strength of Tenity’s FinTech and HealthTech network, collaboration was structured, visible and deliberate. Universities, startups, corporates and government weren’t operating in silos. They were aligned.
Switzerland invests around 3% of GDP in R&D. That level of commitment creates the conditions for deep specialisation, long-term thinking and globally competitive clusters.
In Germany, that intensity increases further. Depending on the region, R&D investment reaches between 5% and 7% of GDP and the results are visible.
At IPAI, we saw modular battery production, recycling and mechanical cell disassembly designed with circularity at the core. We stood next to hypercomputing infrastructure delivering 17 petaflops (a unit of computing speed equal to 17 quadrillion (17,000 trillion) floating-point operations per second, I know-mind blowing!) of computer power. I saw advanced cooling systems reusing energy intelligently. At ZEISS, I saw optical robotics pushing advanced manufacturing to its edge.
This is what sustained ecosystem investment looks like, it creates confidence and it attracts capital, it compounds.
Mapping the Net Zero Economy
The German part of the mission was especially important for us, we are currently working with Initiative Klimaneutrale Deutsche (IKND) to map the German Net Zero economy in real time. The transition to Net Zero is not abstract. Using our real-time classification technology, we are building a real-time view of the businesses driving decarbonisation in Germany, not relying on outdated industrial codes, but analysing what companies actually do.
This creates something powerful: a shared, evidence-based foundation for policy, investment and international collaboration. When you can see the Net Zero economy clearly, you can scale it faster.
Talking about this work with the organisations we were introduced to showed the gap that exists in the German market for this kind of data and we are excited to look into the other opportunities in this market.
Business and opportunity
For West Yorkshire, the ambition is clear. To build a globally competitive, innovation-led economy. That ambition is being actively driven by strong regional leadership and deep collaboration between business, academia and government.
What Switzerland and Germany demonstrated is that ecosystems accelerate when three things align:
- Long-term R&D investment
- Clear sector visibility
- Structured collaboration
West Yorkshire is building all three, working on making a strong ecosystem because we know that visibility creates credibility, credibility attracts capital, capital builds ecosystems.
From Zurich to Stuttgart, the message was consistent. Clarity is competitive advantage and collaboration is the multiplier. West Yorkshire Combined Authority are taking these learnings into their ATLAS network which The Data City are proud to be Founder Members of- more to come soon!
*The timing for this was perfect, as the next day the #LeedsTechMap was launched and The Data City were included, alongside some of the delegation- including MAGI, who’s founder was named Tech Rounds number 4 women in tech 2026 (UK and Europe) whilst we were on the mission! Debeo a real-time view for SME’s on their commercial debt to access the best finance solutions. Zygens who create governance lead agentic AI workflows specific to a business’s needs. Finally, Green Tech Gathering the norths largest Green Tech community driving climate innovation.
