Submit application

Your start-up is planning an innovation project that you intend to use to enter the market for the first time with your product or service. You need financial support for this step. You can clearly demonstrate that your innovation project is preparing for subsequent rapid implementation on the market. Do all of the above apply to you? Then, submit an application for an innovation project as a start-up.

Innosuisse supports you directly as a young entrepreneur. The subsidy contract is entered into exclusively with you as the start-up. A research partner is not necessary and is not supported by Innosuisse as a direct subsidy recipient.

Your start-up:

• is about to enter the market. Ready-developed products or services are not yet offered on the market (except for services in the field of research and development, consulting and expert opinions, etc., on which the business model is not based).  Start-ups that already have prototypes or testing facilities in operation at customers are also considered to be “before market entry”.
• has a business model based on a scalable product or service and thus has the potential for more than linear growth.
• can clearly demonstrate that your innovation project prepares for subsequent rapid implementation on the market.
• is based in Switzerland (i.e. the company’s headquarters is in Switzerland) and is registered in the Swiss registry of commerce.
• is not a non-commercial association or foundation and is not a unit of public administration.
• has not been established for more than 5 years (up to 10 years in exceptional cases).
• has less than 50 FTE (Full Time Equivalent) when submitting the application form; if your start-up is controlled by another company (i.e. another company commands a direct/indirect majority of votes or has the direct/indirect right to appoint or remove a majority of the members of the executive board or board of directors of the start-up) and its financials are consolidated by the controlling company, then the consolidated group must have less than 250 FTE.
  
• has the financial means to bear the envisaged own contribution (at least 30 percent of the project costs).
• has an initial analysis of intellectual property rights which shows that there is no obvious conflict with existing patents at the time that the application is submitted that would prevent the start-up from entering the market.
• does not have ongoing funding for the same project.
• is not on SECO’s sanctions list.
• respects the principles of the Code of scientific integrity. 

Innosuisse supports start-ups prior to entering the market in the realisation of science-based innovation projects with significant innovation potential. The funding is intended to make a own contribution to significantly accelerating the market launch of new products and services.

Innosuisse funding will support you in the transition from prototyping and validation to first market launch.

Support will be provided for innovations that are not yet ready for market launch when the application is submitted, but which will be launched on the market after the project is completed. Support for early technology or innovation development without preliminary validation or experimental proof of concept is possible. However, in order to achieve the initial market entry at the end of the project, the various development stages must be progressed through quickly.

The application will be assessed in accordance with the criteria set out in Article 8 of the Innosuisse Funding Ordinance. In addition, an assessment is made as to whether the start-up company has the financial capacity to make the planned own contributions during the course of the project.

As a young entrepreneur, you will receive direct support from Innosuisse. Innosuisse covers a maximum of 70 per cent of the direct project costs. Your start-up pays at least 30 per cent of the costs itself as its own contribution.

For detailed information, please consult the relevant legal provisions:

• Legal basis for the funding of start-up innovation projects (Innosuisse Funding Ordinance)
• Implementing provisions (PDF, 195 kB, 19.12.2023)

Do you meet the requirements? Then enter your application on the Innosuisse online application platform.

After the application has been submitted, Innosuisse will start the evaluation process.