June 29, 2015
Strength in diversity
Dear reader
On Thursday the awards programme of WA de Vigier Foundation took place in Solothurn. This sort of event would probably happen only in Switzerland: the welcome in German, the keynote speech in French, the start-up presentations in German and English, and finally, as Roberto Poretti was honoured as Supporter of the Year, a few phrases in Italian. We reported in German and in French. The excellent start-ups were characterised by their diversity, with the founders coming from several countries and the winners based in five different cantons.
This week has shown that although Zurich and Lausanne are the Swiss start-up hotspots – for example, with the sale of Lausanne firm BugBuster – much is happening in other regions too, such as eastern Switzerland. In St. Gallen, the STARTFELD Diamant prize was awarded on Tuesday to Meteomatics, a young company that uses self-developed drones for improved weather forecasting. But the other four finalists were also at a high level, which would not have been a possibility 10 years ago.
Another example is Ticino, where this week FEMTOprint won another international award. In our interview, Supporter of the Year Roberto Poretti talks about the founder landscape in Ticino and CP Startup, the incubator set up and headed by him.
Although the summer break is almost on us, the Swiss start-up scene is still at full steam. Anyone who wants to sign up for the seif Awards for Social Entrepreneurship Awards from Seif, or for the Heuberger Winterthur Young Entrepreneur Award must submit their documentation by 30 June.
BizSpark, Microsoft’s support programme for start-ups, will be expanded from the beginning of July. Start-up companies that qualify for BizSpark Plus will receive a year’s cloud services up to a value of $120,000 free of charge.
CTI Invest will hold a Lean Day for the first time on 20 October – and Lean Innovation will be a focus point for CTI Invest.
The coming week has a lot to offer when it comes to events, particularly in Zurich: Asia Night on 1 July, the Startup Champions event with investor Christophe Maire, the final event of the Amplify programme and finally, on 2 July, the Startupfair.
Have a relaxing weekend.
Stefan Kyora
Managing Editor, Startupticker.ch