Your application will first be formally reviewed by the Secretariat of Innosuisse. Then it will be assessed by two independent experts according to the applicable criteria. With the help of this assessment, the Innovation Council of Innosuisse will decide whether to fund your project. This process usually takes 6 to 8 weeks.
Criteria for evaluating your application
The experts assess the quality of the applications submitted on the basis of the following criteria:
- Level of innovation: Is the project high-risk and does it have above-average innovation potential?
Specifically: What makes your innovation unique? What is the above-average potential of your innovation measured against the latest scientific developments and against the solutions available on the market? What are the scientific, technological or social innovations? Given the latest scientific developments, why is implementing your innovation linked with a high level of risk?
- Value creation for the Swiss economy or society: Can the implementation of the project convince potential implementation partners that the research results can be put to profitable commercial use?
- For innovation projects in social sciences: Will successful implementation of the project demonstrably reduce social costs and create societal added value (e.g. reducing poverty, increasing quality of life, improving the quality of education, reducing injustice, promoting biodiversity)?
- Methodological quality: Quality of the project's structure, e.g. are the goals and milestones quantitative and realistic?
- Expertise of project partners: Do the project partners have the expertise needed to carry out the project and implement it as intended on the market?
- Contribution to the sustainable development of society, the economy and the environment: The innovation contributes to the sustainable development of society, the economy and/or the environment (e.g. to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals).
Decision
The Innovation Council of Innosuisse decides on your application in five thematic subgroups.
Submit your application at least 6 weeks in advance of a meeting of the Innovation Council. If the evaluation proceeds smoothly, the application can be dealt with at the next meeting. You will receive a decision on your application in 6 to 8 weeks.
Your application is approved
Following the decision of the Innovation Council, Innosuisse will inform you of the approval by IncaMail within two weeks. Projects may also be approved subject to conditions. Prior to starting the project, you must conclude a subsidy contract with Innosuisse.
Your application is rejected
Following a negative decision by the Innovation Council, Innosuisse will inform you of such by IncaMail within two weeks. The reasons for the rejection will be explained in the decision. An appeal against the decision can be lodged with the Federal Administrative Court within 30 days.
You can revise a rejected application at any time and re-submit it to Innosuisse as a new application, provided that the new application remedies the shortcomings and integrates the recommendations noted in the rejection decision. The changes must be easily identifiable: please explain them in an accompanying letter or highlight them in colour in the application. The newly submitted application will be re-evaluated according to the usual evaluation process.
