Take part in the open innovation initiatives

Additive manufacturing, such as 3-D printing, can revolutionise manufacturing processes and business models. It enables new designs, personalised mass production, optimised material usage and shortened supply chains. The Innovation Booster – Additive Manufacturing seeks to harness this potential for stakeholders from industry, research and society. It gives them the opportunity to create, test and validate promising applications and product ideas using existing and new technologies and materials.

The aim of the Innovation Booster – Databooster is to generate Swiss innovation using data-based value creation. Databooster fosters innovation in data-based services for the manufacturing and service sector, combining new methods and technologies in data science with innovative business and service concepts.

Microtechnology has a long and successful tradition in Switzerland, involving industries that make a significant contribution to the nation's value creation and prosperity such as watchmaking, medical technology, mobility, electronics, machine tools and metrology. Structural change in these industries is forcing many suppliers and subcontractors to adapt their offerings. The Innovation Booster Microtech Innovation Booster aims to help them transform their offerings, diversify their positioning, facilitate collaboration and improve knowhow.

The agro-food segment faces significant societal and environmental challenges that require far-reaching changes from all stakeholders. Innovative solutions to complex challenges can only be achieved by pursuing a collaborative approach, involving cross-functional competences and stakeholders. The Innovation Booster – Swiss Food Ecosystems tackles the challenges of the next generation of food ecosystems, capitalising on its broad innovation experience and network of SMEs, start-ups, corporates and academic institutions.

The Innovation Booster – Applied Circular Sustainability focuses on the pre-development of circular products and business models. Experts from research, education, society and business development generate ideas, concepts and prototypes for completely circular solutions. All industries and economic sectors in Switzerland are invited to join the Innovation Booster and contribute their needs, ideas and expertise.

The Innovation Booster – Energy Lab is a Swiss innovation eco-system consisting of over 200 partners from economy, research and politics with a networked vision for a socio-political and economic energy future. In a bottom up approach, based on challenges from practice we merge expertise, research and economy. As a flexible organisation employing agile processes, we strive for science-based value creation in practice.

Photonics is one of the key-enabling technologies of the 21st century. It holds similar potential to that of electronics around 80 years ago and will penetrate all modern applications and business areas. Photonics technologies offer tremendous potential for many of the challenges facing modern society: digitalisation, communication, mobility, decarbonisation, health and sustainability. The Innovation Booster – Photonics contributes disruptive, attractive innovations and USPs for Swiss companies based on cross-technological approaches and utilising modern ideation methods.

People with disabilities have needs in terms of autonomy, inclusion and social participation. Technological and social innovations – products and services – in the fields of communication, mobility or care will allow Switzerland to be inclusive and to catch up with the implementation of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. Experts in Service Design and Anthropotechnology support the participants of the Innovation Booster – Technology & Special Needs to develop products and services with and for people with special needs.

The Innovation Booster – Blockchain Nation Switzerland develops ideas and helps launch start-ups for blockchain-based applications across all regions of Switzerland. It is based on a four-stage process, including the phases of ideation, hackathons, incubation and corporate innovation. Its goal is to position Switzerland as a pioneering nation of decentralised economy. Acting as the Leading House, the Swiss Blockchain Federation has over 70 members and is supported by three cantons.

The Innovation Booster – Living Labs for Decarbonisation carries out activities to promote technological and social innovation in the field of energy through a public-private people partnership, transferring knowledge and co-design solutions by using open innovation and design thinking methods.

Ten Living Labs throughout Switzerland work with local implementation partners, researchers and citizens on topics such as mobility, digitalisation, energy efficiency and circular economy. We use our ideas platform, e-learning, open lab days and innovation camps to boost innovative projects for the decarbonisation of energy.

Sport is a major contributor to the Swiss economy and innovation in sport is making rapid progress. In this context, the NTN Innovation Booster – Sport & Physical Activity will help to foster collaboration between different sectors focusing on sport, thus initiating new partnerships and projects – e.g. sport and tourism, health, tech – and using innovative methods to drive progress in sport. ThinkSport will act as a Leading House of the consortium, which also comprises EPFL and UNIL.

The building industry is materials and greenhouse gas-intensive. The Innovation Booster Circular Building Industry seeks radical solutions from new materials to new business models that reduce materials consumption and the negative environmental impact of the building industry. We network and support experts from business, research and society with the aim of developing ideas together, revolutionising the construction industry and making it circular.

The global challenge of climate change requires joint action. Switzerland therefore wishes to bring its CO2 emissions to net zero by 2050 at the latest. As part of the solution, the Innovation Booster Plastics for Zero Emission is drawing on the strengths of the Swiss plastics industry. Together with the research community, radical and disruptive ideas are being sought and promoted to avoid CO2 emissions and to develop negative emission technologies. Cooperation between all partners in the value chain creates both economic potential and jobs in Switzerland.

To deal with the significant and ongoing changes in society, social and health services have an urgent need for innovation. The Innovation Booster Co-Designing Human Services seeks to address these challenges by bringing together service providers, associations, regulators, researchers, users and others to co-design and co-create new human services. The aims are both to prevent and reduce social and health risks and to provide support, assistance and care to vulnerable people. In doing so, users are placed at the heart of innovation, combining expert knowledge with state-of-the-art research through participatory approaches and design thinking methods.

The Innovation Booster Robotics aims to establish robotics as a core pillar of the Swiss economy. We act as a central infrastructure for the Swiss robotics community, including key business, research and societal actors. Our Innovation Booster supports new partnerships through matchmaking events and theme-specific funding calls, fosters the generation of new ideas in ideation sessions and enables feasibility studies for selected ideas. We support existing as well as new initiatives to promote and communicate advancements in robotics to industry and the public.

The Innovation Booster Digital Health Nation focuses on accelerating patient-centric digital health ideas and projects at the interface between the pharmaceutical industry, academia and start-ups. Our mission is to position Switzerland as the leading hub for Digital Health innovation in Europe by capitalizing on the strength of our pharmaceutical industry and our unparalleled innovative talent. We are changing mindsets for good! Digital Health Nation wants to bring agile, user-centric and business-oriented methods into the mainstream of Healthcare Innovation. We will help you develop your ideas and projects to make a difference for patients, the healthcare system and the Swiss economy.

The Innovation Booster Swiss Smart Cities involves more than 50 partners from research, industry, the public sector and innovation promotion. It aims to accelerate the transformation of existing but often isolated smart cities into a network of learning smart cities. With the help of agile methods and formats such as design thinking, co-creation, hackathons etc., common problems are identified and radical ideas for solutions are promoted that create public added value for smart cities and regions throughout Switzerland. Innovation calls for courage and a spirit of discovery!