The Winterthur Institute of Health Economics (WIG) was originally an initiative by an association of local physicians (Ärztegesellschaft der Bezirke Winterthur und Andelfingen AWA), the city of Winterthur, and the cantonal hospital of Winterthur. In 1995, various discussion panels were held to engage in a “Health Economic Dialog”. Another driving force involved efforts to promote Winterthur as a location for business and develop the region as a national health center.

On 21 August 1998, an association for the promotion of health economics (Verein zur Förderung des Bereichs Gesundheitsökonomie) was founded at Zürcher Hochschule Winterthur (ZHW), as ZHAW was then called. The Winterthur Institute of Health Economics was launched on 1 May 1999. Since 2002, the Institute has been fully integrated into the Public Sector department of the ZHAW School of Management and Law.

Since 2003, the Winterthur Institute of Health Economics has been increasingly active in applied research & development. The MAS in Managed Health Care was established as a continuing education program in 2003, which was also when the WIG became involved in health technology assessment (HTA).

In 2004, the Winterthur Institute of Health Economics was commissioned to establish the ZHAW School of Health Professions, which continues to flourish.

Between 2005 and 2018, the WIG ran the Swiss Insurance Medicine (SIM) office.

The current structure of the Institute was created in 2006 with the teams “Health Economic Research”, “Management in Health Care”, “Health Services Research”, and “Education and Health Policy”.

In 2018, the team “HTA and Health Economic Evaluations” was added.

The Winterthur Institute of Health Economics continues to grow in all areas and currently has more than 30 employees.