Innosuisse’s trade fair support package off to a good start

The Innosuisse “Pick your fair” program started this year complementing the support package offered for a few selected leading fairs. The support includes reduced fees plus free counselling and other services by SGE. New companies must be enrolled in Innosuisse's coaching program and/or must have received the CTI label or an Innosuisse certificate less than 3 years ago to benefit from this offer.

Ten start-ups already have taken advantage of the “Pick your fair” program. They exhibited or will exhibit at fairs all around the world. To illustrate the possibilities, we prepared a list of the supported start-ups and the fairs.

Archilyse (Proptech: architecture analysis)
Fairs: FUTURE Proptech, London. With more than 2000 attendees and more than 700 companies represented, the event, launched in 2015, has become a world-leading fair in its sector. The goal is to connect start-ups and technology companies with established real estate companies.
Digital Factory Hannover Messe, Hannover. The Digital Ecosystems exhibition area at the world’s biggest industrial fair is dedicated to the technical basis for the digital transformation in the industry. It is the platform for all software solutions needed along the entire industrial value chain.

Caru (Digital health: digital assistant for the elderly)
Fair: Silver Economy Forum, Helsinki. The first-ever High-Level Forum on the Silver Economy for government and business leaders.

Cysec Systems (Cybersecurity: enterprise-grade server appliance for Blockchain applications)
Fair: Digital Factory Hannover Messe, Hannover

Securaxis (Security: Personal security network providing real time information for people in hostile or volatile environments)
Fair: Gitex, Dubai. With over 100,000 visitors from 140 countries, Gitex Technology Week is the largest tech show in the Middle East, North Africa & South Asia, demonstrating the future of every business and every industry.

Shift Cryptosecurity (Cryptosecurity: Swiss-made hardware and software for easy cryptocurrency use and storage)
Fair: CEATEC, Chiba/Tokyo. CEATEC is a comprehensive exhibition for Society 5.0 that includes all industries, business categories and advanced technologies such as CPS/IoT, robots and AI. In 2018, more than 150’000 visitors attended.

Signifikant Solutions (Adtech: solution to measure the impact of advertising campaigns)
Fair: DMEXCO, Cologne. DMEXCO is an annual trade fair for digital marketing and advertising. Last year more than 40'000 trade visitors and 1000 exhibitors took part.

Somniacs (VR: Hard- and software to create an extremely vivid full-body experience)
Fair: CEATEC, Chiba Tokyo.

Touchless Automation (Automation: contactless micro handling)
Fair: China International Optoelectronic Expo CIOE, Shenzhen. CIOE features over 3, 200 optoelectronic brands and their latest products in 7 areas: Optical Communications, Lasers, Infrared Applications, Precision Optics, Lens and Camera Module, Data Center, Optoelectronic Sensors and Photonics Innovations.

UniSieve (Energy & Cleantech: gas separation membranes)
Fair: Downstream, Houston. A significant global meeting place for Downstream professionals within Process Engineering, Engineering & Construction, Reliability & Maintenance, Shutdowns & Turnarounds and Supply Chain & Logistics. In 2019, 7000 professionals convened in Houston.

VRBN (Games/VR: VRBN provide 3D buildings and urban environments for game development, visual effects (VFX), simulations and VR experience)
Fair: Gamescom & Devcom, Cologne. Gamescom the world’s largest computer and video games event. Around 370,000 gaming fans from all over the globe attended in 2018. 

Joint stands at leading fairs
In addition to the “Pick your fair” program, Innosuisse selects six leading fairs per year, which usually involve participation in a joint stand such as SGE’s Swiss Pavilion. The next leading fairs for which start-ups can receive support from Innosuisse are already defined. These include:

• Bio Europe: Nov 11th-13th 2019 Hamburg
• Consumer Electronics Show (CES): Jan 7–10th 2020 Las Vegas
• Mobile World Congress (MWC): Feb 24–27th 2020 Barcelona
• Viva Technology: Mai 2020 Paris
• BIO International: June 8–11th 2020 San Diego
• Internationale Funkausstellung (IFA): September 2020 Berlin
• Medica: Nov 16–19th 2020 Düsseldorf

In addition start-ups attending Slush (Nov 21-22nd 2019 in Helsinki) will be supported. 

Excellent feedback
The new support programme was launched last year and it seems to satisfy an important need. Dominique Gruhl-Bégin, Head of Start-ups and Next-Generation Innovators Division at Innosuisse comments: “The feedback received from the start-ups has been excellent, but we’re still in the early phases of the programme and plan to continue to adjust it to make sure that we create as much impact as possible for the attending start-ups.”

More information on a special web page of SGE.