R&D project funding
Innosuisse’s task is to help innovative products and services onto the market to the benefit of the Swiss economy, by encouraging higher education institutions and businesses to carry out joint research and development projects. Companies, especially SMEs, can thereby benefit from the infrastructure in the research institutions and bring their innovative products and services to market.
Start-up & Entrepreneurship
Innosuisse is tasked with promoting entrepreneurship and supporting innovative business ideas. Innosuisse programmes and networks provide the skills and methods necessary to successfully turn a business idea into a new company. The instruments used include training courses for potential and active young entrepreneurs and coaching and support in searching for investors.
KTT Support
KTT stands for knowledge and technology transfer between businesses and research circles. This funding area brings together businesses, especially SMEs, and public research institutions in cases where contact has not otherwise been established. The aim is to create partnerships which will then act as drivers of innovation in Switzerland.
Special task: Energy research
In order to achieve the Federal Council’s and parliament’s objective of gradually phasing out nuclear power by 2035, a stronger focus is being placed on energy research between 2013 and 2016. Research networks among universities, named the Swiss Competence Centres for Energy Research (SCCERs), have been set up to establish the potential for efficiency savings and the opportunities presented by renewables. Innosuisse is responsible for creating and funding the SCCERs, supported by the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF). Innosuisse is also funding extra R&D projects relating to energy.