Startup DAYS - Constant topics and new achievements

The Startup DAYS Startup INVEST are the perfect event to feel the pulse of the Swiss start-up scene. Despite the pandemic, this pulse has hardly slowed down. Around 900 people attended the hybrid event this year. Most of them personally on site. Many participants emphasised that they greatly appreciated the opportunity to talk face-to-face with other people from the startup scene. Accordingly, the exchange between representatives of start-ups, investors, support organisations and corporates was very intense, either informally or in the One to One meetings.

In addition, there was a dense programme with keynotes, investors and supporters on stage, panels and workshops. The possibilities of the hybrid event were exploited to the full. During a Master Class, for example, the speaker was in New York, and in addition to the attendees in Bern, numerous visitors from all over the world took part in the workshop virtually.

Many of the topics discussed at the Startup Days are long-running issues. For example, the question of how to bring start-ups and corporates together more effectively. Or the challenge of forming consortia in Switzerland for large investments of CHF50 million or more. But the Startup Days are also a good place to observe the progress that the scene is constantly making. Politics is a good example here. With Andri Silberschmidt and Judith Bellaiche, the start-up scene now has representatives in the National Council and with SWESA, an association that is well anchored in Berne's political scene. And there is also progress in the area of diversity. This was most evident from the finalists of the Startup Battle: Three of the ten Startup CEOs who made it to the final were women.

The 17th Startup Days were the last edition organised by Jean-Pierre Vuilleumier. Next year a new team will take over. Dominik Isler and Fabian Wassmer are former members of the executive board of the Swiss Economic Forum. The next Startup Days will take place on 26 and 27 May 2021.

Registered participants can download virtual content (master classes, workshops startup pitches) from the Startup Days website.