Innosuisse and the SNSF promote start-ups in Switzerland

Innosuisse and the SNSF have developed a well-coordinated support offer in Switzerland’s complex start-up ecosystem. This covers the entire innovation chain (from basic knowledge to the founding of start-ups). This is the core result of an external study.

The SNSF and Innosuisse promote research and innovation on behalf of the Swiss Confederation. They provide key stimuli and contributions at various points along the innovation chain – from the promotion of basic knowledge to applied basic research and science-based innovations. The two organisations are thus supporting the start-up ecosystem in Switzerland.

In order to better understand the contribution their funding is making to the emergence of start-ups so that they can target the joint funding system as specifically as possible going forward, the SNSF and Innosuisse commissioned the Fraunhofer Institute for Systems and Innovation Research (ISI) to conduct a study.

A well-coordinated support offer 

Overall, the study shows that the SNSF and Innosuisse have developed a well-coordinated support offer in Switzerland’s complex start-up ecosystem. This offer covers the entire innovation chain, from basic knowledge to the founding of start-ups. No duplications or gaps were identified in the funding portfolio of the two institutions. For this reason, there is no fundamental need for action. In order to increase the use of the offers currently available, the authors recommend that the SNSF and Innosuisse continue and, if necessary, deepen their cooperation and take measures to reach their target groups even more effectively. Innosuisse will take the recommendations into account in the further development of its funding instruments. They have already been incorporated into the upcoming call for start-up training programmes.

Through the study, Innosuisse was able to gain important insights into the entire funding chain for start-ups. It is gratifying that the start-ups surveyed view the funding organisations as important drivers of start-ups and that they attribute a high degree of relevance to Innosuisse’s support offer. Innosuisse reviews its instruments on an ongoing basis in order to achieve the greatest possible benefit for the economy and society and to be able to optimally exploit their utilisation potential.