Switzerland Innovation Tech4Impact Initiative

SI Tech4Impact provides a platform to promote the development of ground-breaking projects that focus on real market applications in collaboration with Swiss universities as well as entrepreneurs and SMEs collaborating with research partners. The SI Tech4Impact initiative will award 5 to 7 selected projects with a one-year project grant of up to CHF85k each.

Criteria

Projects should tackle one of the following SDGs:

• SDG 3 – Good health and well-being
• SDG 7 – Affordable and clean energy
• SDG 9 – Industry, innovation and infrastructure
• SDG 11 – Sustainable cities and communities
• SDG 12 – Responsible consumption and production
• SDG 13 – Climate action

The program is open exclusively to:

• Research groups from Swiss universities*
• Postdocs and PhD students (no master or bachelor students)
• Spin-offs and early-stage startups linked to a university* research group
• SMEs with an innovation project to be carried out in cooperation with research partner

To qualify for a grant, the proposed project must:

• Rely on an advanced technology that is ready to reach maturity within the next 2-3 years.
• According to the TRL system, TRL 4 must be achieved before the application
• Have the potential to address a pressing social and/or environmental problem
• Be approved by an academic partner
• Be located or have a strong relationship with one of Switzerland Innovation Parks (SIP)