Innovation
The Swiss economy thrives on innovation and Switzerland regularly tops the global innovation indexes. The amount of patents and registered trademarks and designs is a clear indication of the high level of innovation in Switzerland and so is the number of people employed in knowledge-intensive sectors. Also the proportion of Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SME) bringing new products and processes to the market exceeds that of the surrounding countries.
Similar to the area of research, there is a strong belief in the bottom-up approach when it comes to innovation in Switzerland. While the State Secretariat for Education, Research and Innovation (SERI) sets out overall (legal) framework for innovation support, Innosuisse is the Swiss innovation promotion agency. It encourages scientific innovation in Switzerland by providing funding, advisory services and networks to improve the Swiss economy. Whereas Swiss businesses undertake and finance a large part of their Research and Innovation (R&I) activities, the total amount of public funding for innovation activities is much lower than for basic research and is paid only to publicly-oriented R&I partners, such as public universities and research and technology organizations carrying out applied research with or for Swiss enterprises. With this policy, Switzerland is an exception amongst the member states of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). Switzerland’s innovation policy starts from the assumption that the generation of innovation is a core task of industry and SME and that the businesses have to put, in large parts, their own efforts and money in it. Generally, the Swiss state only intervenes rarely into the innovation process. It focuses on setting the legal framework and providing the necessary infrastructure.
Apart from funding R&I projecs, there is a strong emphasis on mentoring, coaching, teaching business knowledge and entrepreneurship skills as well as proving small companies and start-ups with a network of partners in the R&I sector as well as along their value chain. Support is also available for export and internationalisation. Apart from the federal institutions, the 26 cantons have their own innovation strategies and offer numerous regional innovation promotion initiatives. There are various innovation support mechanisms depending on geographic location, sector or type of company.
Swiss South Africa Business Development Programme
The Business Development Programme was established in 2010 in in partnership with the TIA and the Swiss Leading House being the Universtiy of Basel.
The programme is implemented annually over three phases: Phase I is the basic course and fully funded by the TIA; this is followed by Phase II, the advanced course, with costs shared between the Swiss Leading House and TIA; and, lastly, Phase III, is the Swiss Summer School hosted in Switzerland. The costs of Phase III are also shared by TIA and the Swiss Leading House. The SSABDP contributes to TIA’s objectives of the NextGen 100 Programme, which aims to encourage the establishment of technology start-ups. Beyond the SSABDP are initiatives such as the Innovation Challenges and the Swiss Academia Industry Training Programme. Key to the Swiss-South Africa science to market outlook is the innovation stemming from the joint research projects.It is a framework that provides motivation, entrepreneurial know-how and support to scientists while strengthening links and cooperation between the industries ofSouth Africa and Switzerland.
Since 2010, the SSABDP has trained 931 entrepreneurs in South Africa of whom 172 participated in the SA Advanced Workshop and 85 participated in the Swiss-South Africa Venture LeadersProgramme.
Swiss Academia to Industry
In 2018, the Swiss Academia Industry Training (AIT) programme was added to the SSABDP. The AIT aims to connect scientists from top institutions in Switzerland with India, Brazil andSouth Africa, to promote an international network and enable access to promising markets and intellectual capital in applied research. The 10 Swiss entrepreneurs who attended a one-week market discovery programme in Cape Town, which ran parallel to the SSABDP Advanced Workshop, gained commendable experience in the South African business environment. The programme included workshops with local business experts, company visits and sessions with the South African start-ups.
Of the 85 entrepreneurs who reached the Venture Leader phase, 59% are still in business and a number of them were very successful in raising funding for their ventures. The startups raised more than R250 million by the end of 2017, of which 30 received funding from TIA and 17 raised funding from other institutions in the NSI. Two of the start-ups raised international venture capital investment and were invited to join venture capital accelerator programmes in South Africa.