Applications open for International Startup Platform in Switzerland
Kickstart Innovation's programme is entering its eighth year and has helped successful startups such as Planted, Neustark, Unsupervised and AAAcell accelerate. More than 270 deals in the form of collaborations from 80 countries have been realised so far. Investments of more than €2 billion have been raised to date.
"The programme continues to grow in importance not only from an innovation perspective, but also in sustainability and circular economy," explains Katka Letzing, Co-Founder and CEO of Kickstart Innovation, one of the largest open innovation platforms in Europe.
"With our 10-week programme and the resulting proof-of-concepts, startups and companies or organisations have the opportunity to progress significantly faster in their respective fields."
The goal of the Kickstart programme is to enable pilot projects or commercial collaborations between startups and established institutions. This is to bring new products and services to market on a larger scale, develop new revenue streams and invest in pioneering models and processes.
Last year, 52 startups, six of them from Germany, and intrapreneurship teams developed cutting-edge solutions for Switzerland and beyond. The ideas turned out to be diverse and ranged from a software platform for decarbonising supply chains, to sustainable insulation packaging made from recycled waste paper, to solar thermal and photovoltaic collectors that achieve one of the highest energy densities in the world.
“We have been a Global Partner of Kickstart since its founding in 2016. Together with our in-house experts, Kickstart defines relevant topics and looks for promising startups. We are able to promote open innovation, connect with startups, and enable new trends in the marketplace and contribute to Deeptech Nation as well as sustainability-driven solutions." explains Roger Wüthrich-Hasenböhler, Chief Strategy and Growth Officer at Swisscom.
Also participating in Kickstart's eighth innovation program with the aim of developing sustainable and innovative solutions within society are AXA, Canton de Vaud, City of Zurich, Coop, la Mobilière, PostFinance, Sanitas, CSEM and MSD.
Five focus areas are being explored to identify the topics of the future: New Work & Learning, Health & Wellbeing, Finance & Insurance, Food & Retail and Smart Cities. Each vertical focuses on specific innovative trends and the needs of individual partners with acceleration in technology, sustainability and investments.
Further information and a guide on how to apply can be found here.
