Dear colleagues,
It is our tradition to send an Impact Hub Switzerland update on the Swiss National Day. Our last stakeholder message went out just before Christmas 2019. How our world has changed since then? We hope that you and your loved ones are safe and healthy!!
How have you experienced the height of the lockdown?
At Impact Hub, the Covid-19 crisis hit all of us very hard. Yet, it also showed the value of our community for Switzerland – being locally rooted across the country. In matters of days we could organize thousands of local citizens, partners and peer organisations as well as Federal Councillors Alain Berset and Guy Parmelin along with their departments and 16 national parliament members (incl. President Isabelle Moret) to collaborate in finding solutions against the crisis: VersusVirus was, and still is, an exceptional experience. And we are thankful for all the committed partners, supporters, mentors, and participants who made this possible together with us. Forbes, SRF, RTS, RSI, NZZ and many others have covered VersusVirus (see below).
How will you contribute to rebuilding a sustainable economy and society after the crisis?
We invite you to browse through the news and stories below on what we’ve been up to in the last couple of months: Circular Economy Transition, Innosuisse Startup Trainings and Partnerships, Zero Waste Cafe, Sustainable Tourism, Lean Innovation Award, amongst others. And, even moreso, we look forward to continuing the dialogue and collaboration with you.
Please let us know in case you have any questions, requests or suggestions.
Have a wonderful weekend!
Amanda, Chris, Christoph, Connie and Tiziano
Impact Hub Switzerland Board of Directors
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Please find the following info below:
- Top Stories: Exciting recent and current activities within Impact Hub
- Coming Up Next: Interesting events and initiatives in the near future
- Impact Hub in the News: Links to recent news
- Impact Hub in Numbers: Latest numbers of Impact Hub
- Impact Hub Switzerland: Board Members and Impact Hubs.
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TOP STORIES
#Impact Hub Switzerland: The #VersusVirus hackathons & Incubation program
Impact Hub Switzerland, along with partners from organizations such as EPFL, CERN, OpenData.ch, foraus, Global Entrepreneurship Network, Open Geneva, and many others, have organized the largest online collaboration project in the history of Switzerland.
VersusVirus gathered over 5’000 participants on its platform to develop solutions against the Covid-19 crisis together. Under the patronage of the Federal Department of Home Affairs (FDHA) and the Federal Department of Economic Affairs, Education and Research (EAER), the team ran two hackathons in April and May – resulting in over 300 projects of which 49 highlights were selected for grant funding. More than 40 teams have then joined the VersusVirus Incubator, an online incubation program to support projects progressing in their development. Please reach out to us if you’d like to take part in the Final Demo Day, 6th November, 12:00-14:00 CET (online). We would like to express our gratitude to over 100 partner organizations, sponsors and donors, hundreds of mentors and experts and last but not least all the engaged citizens across Switzerland and beyond for making VersusVirus such a successful venture.
#Impact Hub Switzerland: 2nd edition of the Circular Economy Incubator
27 startups from all over Switzerland participated in this year’s second edition of our Swiss-wide Incubation program. Due to COVID-19, the second half of the program was held virtually, including a huge Circular Economy Demo day. We are happy that some of this year’s participants already received funding, e.g. the energy sharing platform Exnaton, or the carbon-neutral concrete producer Neustark. Also CE Incubator alumni Bloom Biorenewables, who develops biomass as a true alternative to petroleum, continues its success story with additional grants and awards.
#Impact Hub Switzerland: Innosuisse Partnerships
We are honored to be delivering several activities and projects on behalf of the Swiss governmental startup support, Innosuisse:
- Zürich & Eastern CH: In cooperation with the ZHAW, Impact Hub Zürich organised three Business Creation (awareness-raising) events and ran five Business Concept courses, which were all fully booked, during the spring semester. When the lockdown started, we moved the courses and final events to online mode and many promising startup ideas evolved from the courses.
- Basel: The Zero Waste Innovation Lab (ZEWIL) is created by the Impact Hub Basel in collaboration with the FHNW, Innosuisse and the Christoph Merian Foundation to promote economic processes and zero waste innovations that lead to an extensive, ideally even complete reduction at every stage of the value chain waste and resource consumption.
- Expert evaluations for the Swiss governmental Covid-19 Loans: We are contributing to the provision of startup loans for the 21 cantons participating in the Federal Government’s startup support scheme. Impact Hub Switzerland co-president, Christoph Birkholz, is amongst the group of experts to advise cantons on loan requests.
- Communication partnership: In the coming months, Impact Hub Switzerland will collaborate with Innosuisse to raise awareness about the innovation agency’s support offers for entrepreneurs.
#Impact Hub Basel: Café spurlos – Basel’s first zero waste café
On 10 February 2020, Impact Hub Basel opened the doors to its own sustainable Café. With this coffeehouse on the ground floor of the Hub, Basel gets its first zero waste café! The zero waste aspect is at the core of the Café and the reasoning behind the name – Café spurlos – a café with a minimal ecological footprint. To keep evolving and to inspire Swiss gastronomy to follow our example, the Café collaborates closely with Impact Hub Basel’s Zero Waste Innovation Lab (ZEWIL) (more details, see above).
#Impact Hub Bern: LIA – Lean Innovation Award for aspiring entrepreneurs
The new Lean Innovation Award LIA is worth a total of over 21,000 CHF for young entrepreneurs. This project is initiated by the Impact Hub Bern cooperative and made possible thanks to partners such as the Fribourg School of Economics, be-advanced, Impact Hub Bern and Skop Design. The awards aim at early-stage projects that align their business mission with the Sustainable Development Goals.
#Impact Hub Zürich, Geneva & Lausanne: Kickstart brings 51 startups & scaleups in its 5th-year program
Impact Hub subsidiary Kickstart has finalized its 5th-annual selection and introduces 42 startups and scaleupsand 9 entrepreneurship teams. For this year’s edition of the innovation platform, Kickstart has implemented a new Circular Economy cross-vertical that will also establish a stronger presence in Romandie. Kickstart is closely working together with Impact Hub Lausanne & Geneva and partners such as the MAVA Foundation, Swisscom, Nespresso, and many more to accelerate circular economy scale-ups.
#Impact Hub Ticino: Welcome to the 6th Impact Hub in Switzerland!
Impact Hub Ticino is warming the engine for the grand opening in January 2021. The team is working hard to prepare Villa Gujoni, a beautiful 1929 villa in the center of Lugano, to welcome members and the broader Swiss community.
In the meantime, the team is co-organising Fu-turismo (fu-tourism) with ERSL, Ated Ticino, Elia Frapolli and many others. An online hackathon collaboratively exploring the positive transformation potential of tourism, so that it can contribute to a better quality of life for all. The hackathon is under the patronage of Repubblica and Canton Ticino, in partnership with Hotelleriesuisse’s Milestone Innovation Festival.
Additionally, Impact Hub is supporting four projects with social innovation design practices: the new regenerative life of ProNatura Lucomagno; the economic sustainability of Alberoteca while working on more than 200 rare apple varieties from Ticino; Terranostra’s path to a new form of shared ownership; the social impact measurement of Càsoro teatro lab project; TicInsect crowdfunding campaign “Food Waste as Resource” out from CE Incubator.
#Impact Hub Lausanne & Geneva: Partnership with SDC confirmed
In preparation of the fourth edition of Accelerate2030, we are excited to welcome the Swiss Development Agency among our dear partners and look forward to further its reach and impact in the years to come.
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COMING UP NEXT
October 4-5: Fu-turismo Online Hackathon
With fu-turismo, Impact Hub Ticino and several partners are engaging the sector’s extended ecosystem for collaboratively envisioning opportunities around the themes: transformative tourism, tourism in nature, food and tourism, inclusive tourist experience, tourism and circular economy.
November 1-3: Swiss Digital Day
Impact Hub Basel participates in the Swiss Digital Day of the Basel area. The frame of the Digital Day is also the perfect opportunity for a Young Innovators Workshop which leads the way to the Youth Challenge of Basel’s Climathon.
Nov 6: VersusVirus Demo Day
The VersusVirus project will be finalized with a two-hour demo event, where the teams of the VersusVirus Incubator will pitch their projects to donors, investors and other innovation support providers. Get in touch with Christoph Birkholz, if you are interested in supporting or investing in teams from VersusVirus and would like to join the event.
November 13-14: Climathon 2020
This year again, Impact Hubs in Switzerland are bringing the global climate action movement back to Switzerland, with seven local Climathons taking place across Switzerland (in Geneva, Lausanne, Fribourg, Sion, Basel, Zürich, Mendrisio – together with other implementing partners). The Swiss Impact Hubs are now in the process of onboarding local partners and defining relevant climate challenges. If you want to be involved in the Climathon 2020, you can reach out to: analaura.rivarola@impacthub.net (Basel), laurene.descamps@impacthub.ch (Zürich), lisettevandermaarel@impacthub.ch (Ticino), felix.staehli@impacthub.ch (Lausanne/Genève)
November 27: Open Hub Day at Impact Hub Zürich
You are invited to Impact Hub Zürich’s second Open Hub Day, the “open doors” event where you can get to know the community, our locations and activities. An inspiring program with workshops, panels, and input sessions on this year’s topic “New Growth” is awaiting you! Save the date, tickets available soon!
2021: Impact Hub Geneva & Lausanne
The next edition of Accelerate2030 will launch in Spring 2021 with 30+ countries! This program’s mission is to scale the impact of entrepreneurial solutions to the #SDGs, and push forward the most innovative solutions to the world’s most pressing social and environmental problems. If you are interested in learning more or partnering with us, please reach out.
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IMPACT HUB IN THE NEWS
SRF – Tagesschau (4.4.2020)
Covid-19: Start 48-Stunden-Hackathon VersusVirus
RTS – Antivirus (3.4.2020)
#VerusVirus hackathon
RSI – Telegiornale (3.4.2020)
“Versusvirus.ch, un sito per trovare soluzioni pratiche al Covid-19”
Forbes Magazin (16.4.2020)
The Hackathon Approach To COVID-19 Showcases Agile Innovation At Its Best
Migros Magazin (5.2020)
Gemeinsam gegen das Virus
Agefi (25.6.2020)
L’innovation ne s’arrête pas aux frontières des cantons
Tribune de Geneve (23.5.2020)
À Genève, les espaces de coworking ont de beaux jours devant eux
Agefi (29.4.2020)
Kickstart s’ouvre davantage à la Suisse romande
NZZ (10.4.2020)
Den Startups trocknet in der Corona-Krise die Finanzierung aus – und der Bundesrat lässt sich Zeit mit Hilfe
SRF news (11.02.2020)
In Basel öffnet erstes Zero-Waste-Café seine Türen
Radio X (11.03.2020)
Café Spurlos – Abfall vermeiden für die Nachhaltigkeit
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IMPACT HUB IN NUMBERS
Active Members: 1’750 in CH // 18’000 globally
Number of Hubs: 6 in CH // 103 globally
Number of spaces: 8 in CH // 130 globally
Square meters: 6’000 in CH // 84’800 m2 globally
Team size: 191 team members (102 FTEs) in Switzerland
New jobs (p.a.): 2’352 new FTEs created in the Swiss Impact Hub community in 2018
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IMPACT HUB SWITZERLAND BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Amanda Byrde, Impact Hub Geneva and Impact Hub Lausanne
Chris Jenny, Impact Hub Bern
Christoph Birkholz, Impact Hub Zürich
Connie Low, Impact Hub Basel
Tiziano Luccarelli, Impact Hub Ticino
