Innosuisse innovation support on high demand despite the coronavirus crisis

With the support of Innosuisse, Swiss companies and universities maintained their science-based innovation activities during the first half of the year. By the end of June 2020, the committee had received 359 applications for innovation projects. Innosuisse evaluated 385 and approved 208 with a total funding volume of CHF 63 million – excluding the overhead contribution of CHF 9 million. The funding volume in 2020 is as a result 60% higher than the figure for the first half of 2019.

“In April and May, we recorded the highest number of applications submitted for innovation projects, despite the lockdown. We very much hope that this trend continues because innovation will help to overcome the crisis. Innosuisse hopes to be able to support many sound innovation projects in the second half of the year as well. We are ready for it”, said Annalise Eggimann, CEO Innosuisse.

532 applications for coronavirus-related changes to innovation projects
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, delays and additional costs were incurred in many ongoing innovation projects. Innosuisse offered help in these cases intending to ease conditions. By the submission deadline at the end of June 2020, Innosuisse had received 532 applications for coronavirus-related changes to innovation projects. About half of them have been decided upon. The additional costs for Innosuisse in this respect should amount to around CHF 15 million.

High demand for coaching programs
Despite the coronavirus crisis, the coaching services offered by Innosuisse also saw a slight increase in demand in the first half of the year compared to the first half of 2019, which was already very strong. Two hundred forty start-ups applied for coaching at Innosuisse; 140 were accepted, 98 of which were for initial coaching and 42 for core coaching.

Innovation cheques for SMEs
Swiss companies also submitted 354 innovation cheques to Innosuisse; here too, there was a growth rate of around 38% compared with the first half of 2019. The innovation cheques enable SMEs to test the feasibility of their innovative ideas with a research partner.

In the first half of 2020, Innosuisse also issued 257 mentoring credits to 204 Swiss SMEs to enable them to call on an innovation mentor as an advisor to help them set up their innovation project and thus strengthen their innovation work.

For Eggimann, the demand for innovation funding is an encouraging sign: “The coronavirus crisis is changing the economy and society on a lasting basis. Innovation is the key to actively shaping this change. Through our funding instruments, we sustainably strengthen the innovative capability of Swiss companies and their competitiveness. We are very grateful that we can also count on the support of politicians in these difficult times. This can be seen, for example, in the Council of States proposal in June to increase our funding budget by CHF 130 million in the years 2021–2024.”

(Press release)