October 19, 2018
More openness to disruptive ideas
Dear reader
Swiss start-ups are popular with large companies. This week, for example, agritech company Gamaya launched a solution that allows tobacco fields to be monitored and analysed. Philip Morris, one of the largest tobacco producers in the world, is already using the solution. The stock exchange operator SIX has not only invested in the blockchain start-up PassOn, but is also considering a collaboration. And in Paris, Dizmo was honoured with the Digital Industry Award – a good chance to get into the business with Siemens and Atos, which are behind this award.
New initiatives are also appearing. Groupe Mutuel has launched its first accelerator programme, and we asked Chief Innovation Officer Nicolas Loeillot about the goals and possible investments.
Such collaborations and initiatives are very valuable since, as the World Economic Forum states in its Global Competitiveness Report this year, Switzerland is still not sufficiently open to disruptive ideas. This is one of the reasons why it is no longer ranked first in the rankings of the most competitive countries, but is in only fourth place.
Another problem highlighted by the report is a lack of entrepreneurial culture. Luckily, a lot is going on here. A new initiative from investiere.ch will make a further contribution to change: the venture capital company is launching a trainee programme in which participants will spend several months at investiere, at a start-up and in the innovation department of a large company. Tamedia and Sanitas are partners.
Collaboration in a start-up can certainly contribute to a cultural change, and this week has shown how fascinating the world of Swiss start-ups is. Imverse has launched the beta version of a software that is set to become the Photoshop for virtual reality applications. Scailyte is working on software that is able to analyse large amounts of data from individual body cells and can be used, for example, in the early detection of disease. And W3lcome, a very young start-up with employees in Switzerland and Brazil, has already sold its digital check-in solution to well-known customers.
If you want to experience start-ups and other fascinating aspects of digitalisation up close, you will have plenty of opportunity in all regions of the country at the second Swiss Digital Day on 25 October.
I will be meeting digitalisation in Silicon Valley again next week. At the invitation of Swisscom, I will accompany the five winners of the Swisscom Startup Challenge. You will be able to read my thoughts and impressions on startupticker.
Have a sunny autumnal weekend
Stefan Kyora
Editor in Chief, Startupticker.ch
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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". 
