A key factor why Switzerland consistently takes the top spot in any ranking of the world’s most competitive global economies is its capacity for, and commitment to, innovation.
So anyone interested in getting a great overview of what innovation looks like in the Swiss startup world should take note of a recent event in Zurich, the TOP 100 Swiss Startup Award 2016.
For the 6th time, this event was organized by startup.ch in cooperation with Handelszeitung and PME Magazine, and presented an evening full of discovery, networking, and celebration of the best Swiss startups.
Every year, from over 100,000 young companies, the 100 most innovative and promising Swiss startups are picked by top startup experts.
The criteria for applying as a startup company to the TOP 100 award competition are simple: the company needs to be innovative, independent (not a subsidiary of an existing company), and younger than five years.
The ranking criteria is equally simple: 100 experts with a profound knowledge of the Swiss startup scene - through their involvement in, for example, business angel networks, investor platforms, and coaching programs - each came up with an individual Top 10 list (10 points for 1st place to 1 point for 10th place), which was then compiled in an overall ranking.
At the award event, the Top 10 winners gave a 3 minute company pitch and the best newcomers to the TOP 100 ranking gave a short company overview. Throughout, it was very interesting to see the diversity of disruptive technologies and business models presented at the event.
In this year’s ranking the majority of companies come from the wide-ranging information and communication technologies (ICT) industry - with 23 software and 18 internet/mobile start-ups, followed by biotech (18 companies), medtech (14 companies), electronics/mechanical (10 companies), cleantech (10 companies), and micro/nanotechnology (4 companies).
From a regional perspective, the two hot spots for startups are the cantons of Zurich, and Vaud, with 39 and 29 companies respectively in the top 100. This is not a surprise as these two cantons are home to two prestigious ETH universities in Zurich and Lausanne, and have an extensive support network for spin-offs from research. The canton of Basel-Stadt comes in third with 8 companies, followed by Geneva with 6 companies; the Valais with 4; Zug, Ticino, Bern and St. Gall with 2 each; and finally Aargau, Jura, Graubünden, Luzern, Fribourg and Solothurn with 1 each.
From a Geneva perspective, it is rewarding to see that eight companies supported by the local incubator Fongit have made it to this year’s TOP 100 list.
Overall this was a very interesting event that absolutely accomplished what it intended to do - provide a great overview of the vibrant startup eco system in Switzerland and celebrate the winners of this year’s ranking with style!
Photo credit : siraanamwong via iStock.com (licence standard)
