Established organizations and tech scaleups are shaping the future

Science and engineering driven technologies have the potential to transform humanity’s biggest challenges into solvable problems. Kickstart Innovation bridges the gap between scaleups and Swiss corporations, cities, universities and other organisations to accelerate deep tech innovation and to create an overlaying innovation ecosystem.

The application period for this year’s innovation program is open until 4 May.

Scaleups and startups from Switzerland and abroad in the fields of Circular Economy, EdTech & New Work, FinTech & InsurTech, Food & Retail Tech, HealthTech, and Smart City & Technology are invited to apply for Kickstart 2020.

Smart City & Technology

The Smart City & Technology vertical aims to foster collaboration between established organisations and scaleups that work on solutions in the following areas:

• Smart Buildings & Neighbourhoods
• Smart Energy & Sustainability
• Future Mobility
• Connectivity & Digital City Services
• Digital Data Platforms

Among others, Carbon Capture & Usage, Storage and Energy Efficiency, and Digital Twins are some of the Collaboration Opportunities.

This year again Kickstart is pleased to partner up with Swiss Federal Office of Energy to grant local and international tech scaleups with an access to the Swiss market, thus strengthening Switzerland as an innovation hub with prosperous business long-term opportunities.

In a throwback to Kickstart 2019, the program was a big success that resulted in 50 concrete proofs of concepts, pilot projects, and other partnerships, where 48 promising scaleups took part. Oxygen at Work – one of the particular startups in the Smart City & Technology vertical from the last cohort that improves indoor air quality and energy efficiency – had entered four pilot projects with different partners. Of these collaborations, the first one was confirmed right after the planning before the program even started. As a big achievement throughout the program, Oxygen at Work scaled up its business activities to Germany.

Arjen Visser, Vertical Lead Smart City & Technology, Kickstart Innovation AG