GEW Switzerland 2020 to take place virtually

Initiated by Swissparks.ch and supported by Innosuisse with the universities of Geneva and Lausanne as partners, GEW Switzerland is inspired by Global Entrepreneurship Week, a global and annual initiative each November, dedicated to entrepreneurship, ecosystems, networking and matchmaking. GEW 2019 had sheer success with more than 80 local events and networking occasions with around 3000 participants across ten cantons and 13 cities. The variety of activities ranges from information events to conférences and interactive workshops to investors days.

This year’s GEW builds on previous success and launches under the motto “Let yourself be inspired. Over 30 other incubators, innovation and technology parks, impact hubs, universities and founder centres including  Business Parc Reinach, Startfeld Zurich, Business Angels Switzerland, USI Lugano will host events and workshops nationwide.

«2020 is an extraordinary year, also for GEW Switzerland: entrepreneurs and innovators need extra support to manage the challenges related to the Corona pandemic. GEW provides them with a platform to inform and inspire, helping them to solve their problems and grow their start-ups», says James Miners, Senior Advisor at Fongit, one of the long-term Swiss GEW organisers.

Raising more awareness for entrepreneurship is the main goal: “To draw the public's attention to the importance of entrepreneurs and start-ups for the economy and prosperity, is exactly what we have been actively pursuing with the Global Entrepreneurship Week since 2012», affirms Rene Hausammann, Chairman of Swissparks.ch: “Encouraging, motivating and supporting prospective entrepreneurs and company founders is our mission for the year 2020“, he adds. 

Workshops and events open for registration

• Swissparks.ch together with the Swiss Entrepreneurs Foundation will offer a virtual workshop on 18 November about its “UpScaler Program”, a results-driven start-up growth program for companies in the internationalisation phase, together with a showcase.

• UniL with online events from the campus
  For the second time, the University of Lausanne, HUB Entrepreneuriat et Innovation UNIL (Unil) has organised 14 events for 15’000 students from 7 faculties for four days. The workshops focus on four topics: sustainability, health, digitalisation and sport & culture.
  
  
• ‘Libérez vos idées’ with diverse e-activities.
  At the University of Geneva, diverse activities are planned for six days under the title ‘Libérez vos idées’. With a new online concept, the program contains over 30 e-conferences and e-trainings, competitions, pitching event, e-round tables and online-workshops.