Energy Startup Day: Collaboration in theory and practice

Almost 100 people attended the first Energy Startup Day at the Umweltarena Spreitenbach, including representatives of start-up companies, energy suppliers, research institutions and support organisations. The event had a special format: the focus was on networking and what took place in the breaks or during an aperitif was an integral part of Energy Startup Day. The event began with an extensive poster session, in which the start-ups were able to present their businesses and products individually.

This was followed by the keynote speeches, in which two company founders, a scientist and the Zurich Senate candidate Bastien Girod talked about the challenges and best practices of cleantech start-ups. Here, too, the networking theme played an important role, as shown in the talk by Devon Wemyss from ZHAW, who presented the results of a study on Swiss cleantech start-ups.

She emphasised that “collaboration is essential for all cleantech start-ups in our study”, and gave three reasons:

• Start-ups have access to a wider customer base through a trusted long-term provider
• Start-ups can balance the capital intensity of infrastructure through shared sunk costs and innovation
• Start-ups can build legitimacy through piloting with a validated firm

However, a collaboration with a start-up has advantages for a large company as well. It can accelerate prototyping with an external risk taker, develop innovative products or services without major organisational or structural changes, and gain access to ‘out-of-house’ skills.

Andreas Witzig, founder of the cleantech company Vela Solaris, also stressed the importance of collaboration along the value chain. He explained that Vela Solaris implemented innovations not only in the technical field, but also in the business model, which often opens up new channels that can be tackled with new partners.

The second company founder presented another aspect of the theme. Andrew Shaw, co-founder of Anerdgy, explained that elements of its product had emerged by working together with an SME. This collaboration was very open and goal-oriented, because the start-up could simply talk to the decision makers.

Bastien Girod's insights
Finally, Girod, the Green Party’s National Councillor and Senate candidate in the canton of Zurich who is also Senior Researcher in the Group for Sustainability and Technology at ETH Zürich, had some tips for the young entrepreneurs. He based his analysis on the political framework and advised start-ups not to place undue reliance on subsidies, as the latter are “highly uncertain”. In addition, he said: “There is a big cleantech wave globally, but not in Switzerland. Start-ups should look outside Switzerland.” Start-ups must look for partners not only in Switzerland, but also abroad.