Innosuisse is the Swiss Innovation Agency. It is a federal entity under public law with a separate legal personality. Innosuisse’s role is to promote science-based innovation in the interests of industry and society in Switzerland with the aim of increasing the competitiveness of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Switzerland.
Mission:
Innosuisse promotes science-based innovation in the interests of industry and society in Switzerland with the aim of increasing the competitiveness of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Switzerland. Innosuisse especially aims to support the partnership between academia and the market with innovation projects, networking, training and coaching, laying the groundwork for successful Swiss start-ups as well as innovative products and services. Innosuisse operates on the principle of subsidiarity through a number of closely linked funding areas, helping when innovations cannot be launched or their market potential remains untapped.
Budget:
Innosuisse has a funding budget of CHF 11171.5 million for 2021-2024, most of which is put towards funding innovation projects.
Activities:
Innosuisse provides the following activities:
- Innovation Projects:Innosuisse primarily funds innovation projects run jointly by companies and research institutions. SMEs can investigate the feasibility of their ideas with the innovation cheque. Innosuisse also funds high-risk projects with a high degree of innovation run by researchers who do not yet have a partner to implement the results of their project.
- KTT-Support: Experienced mentors can give SMEs help in setting up innovation projects and identifying a variety of funding instruments. Innosuisse also supports twelve NTN Innovation Boosters and various Networking Event Series, both of which bring together key actors from research, business and society in Switzerland around an innovation topic.
- Start-up and entrepreneurship: Innosuisse provides targeted training courses to encourage an entrepreneurial approach among the next generation of researchers and businesspeople. It also offers expert support in the form of individual coaching for start-ups and for people interested in setting up a company. Experienced coaches provide help and support to establish and develop a company and achieve lasting growth.
- International: Within the scope of its area of responsibility, Innosuisse helps Swiss companies to access relevant support instruments, global value chains and competences not available in Switzerland. Innosuisse is representing Switzerland in EUREKA, took part in several partnership programs co-financed by the EU under Horizon 2020 and has selected bi-national collaborations. Innosuisse also gives companies easy access to international research networks and manages the Enterprise Europe Network (EEN) in Switzerland. Start-ups have the opportunity to test their product or business model in Market Entry and Market Validation Camps outside Switzerland, to develop a local network and to participate at international trade fairs.
- Flagship initiative: Innosuisse is stimulating systemic innovation and transdisciplinary collaboration with this new funding instrument, which is complementary to the purely bottom-up oriented and well-established regular innovation projects. This initiative seeks to find solutions to current or future challenges relevant to a large part of the economy or society. Innosuisse has launched the first call for flagships in January 2021
- Bridge: As a joint programme run by Innosuisse and the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF), BRIDGE creates opportunities at the interface between basic research and science-based innovation for young researchers (Bridge Proof of Concept) and experienced researchers (Bridge Discovery).
Staff:
The Innosuisse secretariat has a Staff of 81 employees (66 FTE; as of 2020).
Contact:
Annika Nussbaum
Innosuisse – Swiss Innovation Agency
Einsteinstrasse 2, 3003 Berne
Phone +41 58 469 88 95
strategy@innosuisse.ch