Geneva is set to scale its startup support capacity

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05.10.2020
New Fongit office

On September 16th, FAE-Fongit-OPI new premises were inaugurated in presence of Pierre Maudet, the State Councillor in charge of the Economy of the Canton of Geneva. Ultimately, the new infrastructure will enable organizations such as the Fongit to double its capacity to support startups.

Since 2012 the Fongit (Fondation Genevoise pour l’Innovation Technologique), the FAE (Fondation d’Aide aux Entreprises) and the OPI (Office for the Promotion of Industries and Technology) have cohabited. However, the concerted move in Plan-les-Ouates, promoted by the State of Geneva, is a confirmation of the Canton's intention to continue cooperating to support innovation and the economic vitality of companies at various stages. 

Contacted by Startupticker.ch, Fongit’s Director Antonio Gambardella explains that the Swiss Innovation Incubator has been fine-tuning its model to scale-up since 2014. In the first phase, it charged up its coaching model by shifting to a more goal-orientated modular approach with specific milestones and increased its pool of specialists and coaches. This has allowed Fongit to increase the number of startups concurrently supported to reach approximately 80 today. 

Fongit is well aware that the Swiss startup scene has been accelerating, and professionalizing noticeably in recent years. The team of Antonio Gambardella has clearly seen that there are poles of innovation that are accelerating faster than Geneva, and in order for the region not become too peripheral, the director reckons that it must give itself the means to accelerate at the same pace. This is why Fongit plans to at least double the number of companies supported by Fongit in the next 3 years. 

Three focus areas

In the close future, Fongit predicts that certain fields will be particularly active in Geneva, and that therefore it will be increasing its focus on supporting Life Sciences innovation, that blockchain and cybersecurity-related startups will see a marked increase and that technological innovation will be strongly adopted within the creative industries to create new fields.

With this move, Fongit will have the capacity and infrastructure to support more ventures differently. Its support is changing; on the one hand, the modern and energy-efficient premises respond to the needs of increasingly demanding entrepreneurs for security and privacy. On the other, Fongit needs to be able to reach more companies even if they are not physically with them, while still preserving the sense of community within a pleasant environment. As such, this move was the opportunity for a batch of more mature companies to leave the physical incubator and join their own offices in close proximity such as Proton Technologies, Alohi, Aptissen, Cleverdist, and Mikajaki. Making space for events to welcome all its entrepreneurs. 

In conclusion, Antonio Gambardella believes this move is the most visible sign of deeper changes. With the support of the State Geneva, more new Fongit initiatives will be put in place in 2021 such as new support for life sciences projects, closer collaboration with academia, and a new financing program for Geneva startups. These programs will be unveiled over the coming months.



(ES)

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