March 7, 2014
The customer comes first
Dear reader
The Swiss are not reputed to be excellent salespeople. The prejudice is that we are too serious, too much in love with technology. Often we invent it, but others do the business.
But this should not apply to the 3D sound technology from Sonic Emotion. After years of preparation, the Zurich firm is poised to establish its revolutionary sound technology software as a global standard. Following brands such as Onkyo, Scott and Toshiba, it has now won Samsung as a customer.
In general, it seems a new generation is at the helm of Swiss high-tech start-ups for customer orientation through duty and choice. At the Swiss Marketing Trophy last Tuesday, three of the six winning companies and projects – Startupfair, Atizo and Rent a Rentner – were young or very young.
A similar picture emerged at Swiss Global Enterprise’s Export Award 2014: even when marketing abroad, the little ones make it ahead of the larger firms. Half of the finalists are young companies – Dacuda, Core Systems and Sensile Technologies.
The founders prove that a keen sense of the needs of an international clientele and technological excellence are not mutually exclusive. In particular, the ETH spin-offs Dacuda (Zurich) and Sensile Technologies (Lausanne) have their roots in the higher education and research landscape
And that they are the best in Europe was confirmed yesterday when the European Commission published its fourth Innovation Union Scoreboard (IUS), in which Switzerland takes first place for the fourth time. Special mention was made of the “open, excellent and attractive research system”.
PS: Next week, startupticker will be present at three events: Swiss Venture Day, BioMed Up and Start Summit.
With kind regards
Jost Dubacher
News
The new Swiss Venture Capital Report was published on 26 January. It analyses 304 financing rounds closed in 2020 and includes further article such as an interview with Michael Hengartner, President of the ETH Board, and a list of Swiss "soonicorns". 
