Innosuisse

Innosuisse provides grants and coaching with no equity or IP claim on the recipient company. The flagship program funds pre-seed science-based startups, while innovation project grants pair academic researchers with corporate implementation partners. The startup coaching track, which certified roughly 480 ventures in 2024, offers training and internationalization support without taking board seats or ownership — making Innosuisse effectively a non-dilutive pre-seed LP for Swiss university spinouts.

President André Kudelski chairs Kudelski SA; board member Sergio Ermotti is Group CEO of UBS AG; board member Anja König is Global Head of the Novartis Venture Fund. The composition embeds Innosuisse at the intersection of Swiss banking, corporate venture, and cybersecurity/technology operating expertise. For institutional allocators, the board roster signals that Innosuisse-backed startups enter the later-stage private-capital pipeline with exposure to one of Europe's most concentrated networks of corporate validation.

Innosuisse disbursed roughly CHF 259 million in the 2023–2024 period, drawn entirely from the Swiss federal budget under the oversight of the State Secretariat for Education, Research and Innovation (SERI). The agency does not manage a permanent endowment or investment portfolio — it allocates an annual appropriation voted by the Federal Assembly, making its deployment comparable to a grant-making foundation rather than a fund.

Innosuisse makes only direct grants and in-kind coaching; it does not participate as an LP in venture funds. Its model is built around project-based funding that pairs a Swiss research institution with at least one corporate implementation partner, plus an equity-free startup track. Co-investment alongside private VCs happens downstream, not at Innosuisse's own entry point.

ETH Zurich and EPFL are Innosuisse's primary research partners, serving as academic hosts for the majority of innovation projects and startup coaching engagements. Innosuisse hosts events on the ETH campus, and a large share of the roughly 480 startups coached annually originate from these two federal institutes. The agency does not fund the universities directly — it funds collaborative projects in which the university acts as the research partner alongside a corporate implementer.

Switzerland, through Innosuisse, holds the chairmanship of the Eureka Network for 2025–2026. Eureka is an intergovernmental R&D collaboration platform spanning 45 countries. The chairmanship gives Innosuisse agenda-setting power for cross-border innovation calls and allows its portfolio startups structured access to international corporate partners, particularly as Switzerland's relationship with Horizon Europe remains bilateral rather than full-association.

Innosuisse's innovation projects span engineering, life sciences, cleantech, ICT, and precision manufacturing. The 2025–2028 strategic consultation added mission-driven calls in circular economy and personalized health. The agency does not fund pure social-science or humanities projects, military technology, or companies that have already reached Series B scale — its mandate is restricted to science-based pre-revenue innovation with a Swiss research-institution partner.