Innovation promotion by Innosuisse has an impact
Bern, 07.05.2019 - Companies and start-ups consider the support provided by the federal government’s innovation promotion agency Innosuisse to be very useful overall. In addition to the purely economic benefits, the strengthening of knowledge and technology transfer and the increase in research expertise are particularly appreciated. Radical technologies and disruptive innovations which are expected to change the market or a company significantly are playing an increasingly important role in funding. These results emerge from three external impact studies conducted on behalf of Innosuisse in 2018.
More than half of the companies supported as part of an innovation project are small firms with a maximum of 50 employees, just under one-third of which are micro-enterprises with ten or fewer employees. More than half of the companies surveyed stated that they benefited directly from the promotion, be it through sales or employment effects, productivity increases or the acceleration of market entry. Support for knowledge and technology transfer between enterprises and universities is also highlighted as a key element of support: nine out of ten companies see an increase in knowledge in research and development, eight out of ten companies strengthen their networks and six out of ten companies gain new project ideas. Almost one innovation project in five is based on radical technolo-gies or disruptive innovations which are expected to considerably change the market or a company.
Start-up coaching contributes significantly to the success of start-ups
The start-ups coached by Innosuisse are science and research-based. More than half are spin-offs from research institutions. The start-ups also see great benefits for themselves in the support provided by Innosuisse: they state that coaching promotes in particular their entrepreneurial abilities and skills in the management team and the development of networks. Coaching makes a significant contribution to the success of start-ups: along with the founding team and the availability of equity financing, it is ranked as the third most important success factor. For almost a quarter of the start-ups coached, radical innovations are an important part of the business idea.
The impact on start-up competence can be demonstrated
Participants in Innosuisse’s training courses rate their skills in setting up a start-up significantly higher after the course than they did before. The intention to found a company increases in the modules examined, but the training modules also lead to a more realistic assessment of the chances of success for some of the participants and thus to a reduction in the propensity to found a company.
This second phase of impact studies conducted by Innosuisse adds to the first phase of external impact analyses commissioned by its predecessor, the Commission for Technology and Innovation CTI, in 2016. The innovation projects included in the study in this second phase were all still approved by the CTI. Since the funding instruments have not changed fundamentally as a result of the change to Innosuisse, the findings can nevertheless generally be applied to Innosuisse’s current innovation funding.
All three impact studies:
www.innosuisse.ch/impactanalysis
Address for enquiries
liane Kersten, co-head communications
Tel. +41 58 464 19 95
media@innosuisse.ch
Publisher
Innosuisse – Swiss Innovation Promotion Agency
https://www.innosuisse.ch
