Dear partners,
A happy new year!
2020 is over, the Covid Crisis is not. And as a beacon of democracy has been severely shaken in Washington D.C. two weeks ago, it becomes more important than ever to bridge the gaps in society. Instead of joining radical protests and conspiracy theories offline and online, we need to radically collaborate for our common future on this planet. While these are big words, the actual work can be very humble – starting in the local neighbourhood, a small two-people project, a new partnership between unlikely allies, it’s in our hands. That’s what Impact Hub is all about. So, let’s look with optimism, energy and commitment into a collaborative 2021.
Twice a year, in January and on our Swiss National Day on 1st of August, we would like to inform you about recent developments and future plans of our Impact Hubs in Switzerland. We invite you to take action with us, leveraging the six Impact Hubs in the country, reaching out to our community members and developing impactful programs and partnerships for sustainable development and innovation in Switzerland and beyond.
Speaking of six Impact Hubs
The new year started off well with Impact Hub Ticino opening its doors in Lugano. You can now access and partner with Impact Hubs in the five biggest cities of the country as well as the largest city in our Italian-speaking south.
Why is this important? – Running programs all over Switzerland
Being locally embedded in six major cities, while being closely connected as one Impact Hub Switzerland allows our partners to leverage Impact Hub as a country-wide platform for sustainable development and innovation: Last fall, we ran several Climathons simultaneously across Switzerland, we finished the Versus Virus Incubator with teams from all over the country, and brought Kickstart’s Circular Economy Initiative as part of the Circular Economy Transition Project from Zurich to the Romandie, amongst others.
Impact Hub is hybrid – digital and physical
Like all of us, 2020 necessitated Impact Hub to move most of our programs and events online. As a result, you can now access professionally produced digital content on many topics around startups (e.g., from the Versus Virus Incubator Lunch & Learn Sessions), new work (e.g., from Zurich’s Open Hub Day on Spotify), digital transformation and sustainable innovation (e.g., from Basel’s Digital Days 2020 online sessions), and many more.
Below, please feel free to read through more information on what happened in fall 2020 and what’s coming up in the next six months at Impact Hub Switzerland.
Please let us know in case you have any questions, requests or suggestions.
Have a wonderful year ahead!
Amanda, Christoph, Connie, Noora and Tiziano
Impact Hub Switzerland Board of Directors
PS: This update comes 2x per year.
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Please find the following info below:
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Top Stories: Exciting recent and current activities within Impact Hub
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Coming Up Next: Interesting events and initiatives in the near future
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Impact Hub in the News: Links to recent news
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Impact Hub in Numbers: Latest numbers of Impact Hub
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Impact Hub Switzerland: Board Members and Impact Hubs.
1. TOP STORIES
#Impact Hub Ticino: Opening
The countdown is over! Impact Hub Ticino, the sixth Impact Hub in Switzerland, officially opened its first coworking location on January 4, 2021. Impact Hub Ticino is located in a beautiful XIX century villa in the center of Lugano and composed of 300m2 coworking space, 500 m2 garden, 5 offices, 2 meeting rooms, library, events and workshops areas, and multipurpose rooms. The hub also owns a cozy Studio-House for rent to anyone who would like to spend time in Lugano for leisure or for work. The team is super excited and has several programs and projects in the making, ready to be launched during 2021, first in the list, the U.lab 2X program in collaboration with the Presencing Institute, starting in February.
#Impact Hub Switzerland: Climathons in several cities
Last November, Impact Hub Switzerland and local implementing partners brought the global 24-hour climate hackathon “Climathon” to Geneva, Lausanne, Fribourg, Sion, Basel, Zürich, Mendrisio, and Winterthur. To celebrate the Swiss-wide scope and sense of togetherness of this year’s virtual editions, we organized a national panel discussion with Thomas Vellacott (CEO WWF Switzerland), Tom Mitchell (CSO Climate-KIC) , Marie-Claire Graf (Climate Activist), and Connie Low (Impact Hub Switzerland).
#Impact Hub Switzerland: VersusVirus Incubator – Final Demo Day
The Versus Virus project started back in April 2020 with 5’000 participants at Switzerland’s largest ever hackathon that was set after Covid-19 unleashed. After a second hackathon in May, we have been running the VersusVirus Incubation Program, where 45 participating projects developed their solutions further with the support of mentors, networking, visibility and weekly streamed Lunch & Learn Sessions on entrepreneurial topics. On November 6, the 25 weeks-long incubation program came to its end with the Final Demo Day, with pitches by the 23 Incubator participants (incl. safe mask storage & disinfection, virtual collaboration tools, remote and fun early childhood education, etc.), behind the scenes stories, and a sharing session of valuable learnings. Thanks to many partners, who have made Versus Virus possible, and especially to Stiftung Mercator Schweiz, Asuera Foundation and UBS, supporting Versus Virus from the beginning in April all the way to the Demo Day in November.
#Impact Hub Switzerland: Supporting freelancers, social entrepreneurs and micro enterprises – new partnership with UBS Switzerland
The Corona crisis is leading to significant unemployment, as well as revenue losses for freelancers, social entrepreneurs, creative workers and microenterprises.
Many people also see an opportunity (or even necessity) in becoming self-employed, take on freelance assignments, work “independently” in the gig economy, or work for different companies at the same time. With a newly established partnership with UBS, Impact Hub Switzerland will support this group of people on their way into self-employment, revenue generation and increased jobs with networking, coaching, consulting and communication. Reach out to any of our Community Builders in the six Impact Hubs.
#Impact Hub Zürich, Geneva & Lausanne: Kickstart
Impact Hub Zürich spin-off company Kickstart Innovation announced at the closing ceremony of the 2020 program edition the initiation of 48 Proofs of Concepts (PoCs) and other partnerships between international start-ups, scale-ups and established companies and institutions. For the 2020 edition, Kickstart introduced a Circular Economy Initiative, in collaboration with Impact Hub Switzerland and the Swiss-wide Circular Economy Transition project.
#Impact Hub Basel: Demo Day – Social Startups at Impact Hub Basel
In December 2020 the local startups supported by our programs pitched their businesses during a demo day. The participating startups were five from the first edition of the one-year Basel Incubator program as well as three startups from the ZEWIL Accelerator. The startups shared their successes and failures on the journey to their innovative, actionable and market-driven solutions to tackle social and environmental issues. Get more information on the five Incubator startups here, as well as on the zero waste focused startups here.
#Impact Hub Basel: Digital Days 2020
Last year, the Digital Day Switzerland became three Digital Days and Impact Hub participated for the third time from 01 – 03 November 2020. A variety of events around digitalization and sustainability were held at Impact Hub Basel and online.
#Impact Hub Ticino: Fu-turismo Hackathon for Sustainable Tourism
Fu-turismo, the virtual hackathon to develop solutions for sustainable tourism in Ticino, ended with excellent participation. The participants have worked intensively over 24 hours between October 3-4. The hackathon, promoted by Impact Hub Ticino, ated-ICT and Elia Frapolli, got the patronage of Repubblica and Canton Ticino as well as the support of over 30 partners active in Ticino, including UTPT (Union of public transport and tourism in Ticino), Hasler Foundation and Swisscom, that provided the prizes for the teams that participated. All 12 projects, the partners and further details are available on www.fu-turismo.ch.
#Impact Hub Zürich: Open Hub Day
The second edition of the Open Hub Day, the “day of open doors” at Impact Hub Zürich, took place virtually on November 27 and attracted over 200 attendees. In more than 20 workshops, keynotes, and panels on topics such as New Work, Mental Health, Entrepreneurship, and Circular Economy, partners and the Zürich community presented exclusive and inspiring insights in their daily business. All sessions were recorded, post-edited in the Podcast Tower at Kraftwerk, and they are now available as podcasts on Spotify!
#Impact Hub Geneva: Intrapreneurship Academy
The first edition of the Intrapreneurship Academy was launched on 19 October and was designed for high-potential professionals and young leaders interested in rethinking the existing business models and shaping the transition to a new economy. Through hybrid and online workshops, coaching and real-life challenges, the 6-months program offers participants a unique opportunity to understand and master megatrends and approaches such as Circular Economy, Theory-U, Design Thinking and Leading Beyond Authority. Throughout this journey, exclusive meetings and conversations are organised such as with Paul Polman, CEO & Chair of IMAGINE.
#Impact Hub Lausanne: Strengthened collaborations
Despite the ongoing sanitary crisis, Impact Hub Lausanne is looking optimistically into this new year. The team is excited about various projects in the pipeline, e.g. Impact Hub Lausanne is deepening the collaborations with its partners Mentor Energy, Démarche and Atelier Eveil around innovative job market reintegration measures with a focus on green jobs and intergenerational programs.
#Impact Hub Zürich: Building a home for the future of work and society at Limmathaus Zürich
Due to the cantonal project ‘Berufsbildungsmeile’ in the Kreis 5, Impact Hub Zürich will have to move out of its main location by the end of 2024. Thankfully, many parliamentarians, policy-makers and supporters are committed to finding a new home for Impact Hub in the center of Zurich. Now, we are excited and grateful to the foundation board of Stiftung Limmathaus trusting Impact Hub Zürich to become the next long-term leaseholder of the Limmathaus after a major refurbishment. Impact Hub Zürich plans to develop its future main location into a lighthouse for the future of work and society, a launchpad for sustainable startups, and an open & inclusive meeting place for the city and neighborhood populations.
#Impact Hub Zürich: Kraftwerk Zürich wins Best Of Swiss Gastro Award
Three years after its opening in autumn 2017, Kraftwerk Zürich Restaurant/Café, which is owned and operated by Impact Hub Zürich, achieved rank 2 of the Best of Swiss Gastro Awards in the category of Coffee & Bistro! We are super proud of being awarded the second best coffee/bistro in all of Switzerland in such a challenging year 2020. Thanks to an amazing gastro team creating wonderful experiences at Kraftwerk Restaurant/Café day in and day out.
#Impact Hub Bern: CHF 25’000 for the five Lean Innovation Awards Winners
In the context of the first edition of the Lean Innovation Awards (LIA), five young entrepreneurs were nominated to pitch their business ideas in front of the jury to win a part of the 25’000 CHF prize money. mySaess, Social Income, and Insulino were selected as winners of the LIA 2020, together with Kitoko People and Breakfast To Home, who participated in the final round as well. The next LIA edition is planned for 2021!
2. COMING UP NEXT
January 21: Pitch night of the Solve for Tomorrow program
During 3 months, 13 teams have been working on solutions that contribute to solving social problems and removing obstacles (keyword SDG10) in order to create a more open society in the framework of the Samsung Solve for Tomorrow program. On January 21, they will present their developed solutions at the virtual pitch night in front of a jury and the general public.
February 1: Arbeit Leben program (2nd edition)
After the first successful edition of the 3-weeks program for strengthened motivation, resilience and vitality, Impact Hub Zürich and its spin-off Stride Learning will launch a new edition of the virtual program.
February 12-13: Climathon Lausanne
Impact Hub Lausanne and Eqlosion are co-organising a Climathon in early 2021, bringing together a diverse group of participants, ranging from policymakers to hackers, youths to academics, students to business leaders. Together, the participants will create forward-thinking ideas to tackle local climate challenges. This year, these challenges focus on “energy”, particularly on boosting the energy transition by the snowball effect, and on increasing the rate of building renovations. More information here.
February: Second Edition of the Basel Incubator and Lafiya Innovators
Two of Impact Hub Basel’s startup support programs go into their second edition. The Basel Incubator is one of our local programs supporting five social startups working towards one or several Sustainable Development Goals. For our transcontinental program Lafiya Innovators we collaborate with Impact Hub Dakar and Accra to support health startups in Senegal and Ghana.
March-April: Launch of the 4th edition of Accelerate2030
Co-initiated by Impact Hub Geneva and UNDP in 2016, Accelerate2030 is the world’s largest program for entrepreneurial solutions towards the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). It leverages the strengths, expertise and reach of the global Impact Hub network, United Nations organizations, corporates, investors and expert partners to strengthen the capacity of impact driven entrepreneurs from emerging markets to scale innovations through cross-sector collaboration. The 4th edition is launching in March 2021 across 20+ countries, aiming to support 200+ SDG-related entrepreneurs. Contact us if you want to partner with the program.
October 4-7: Impact Hub Global Gathering in Switzerland
We will be welcoming up to 150 leaders from the 100 Impact Hubs to Switzerland. Our most important international Impact Hub conference, “Global Gathering”, is an opportunity to present our country to changemakers from the world’s major cities and initiate international connections and projects for sustainable development and innovation.
October 8: The Next 10 Years
10 years ago, a small Impact Hub Zürich opened its doors in two Viadukt arches to embark on a rollercoaster ride for social entrepreneurship in Switzerland. This year, we will celebrate this journey and look into the next 10 years of entrepreneurial communities and impactful innovations in Switzerland. You can mark the date in your calendars for a big party at Kraftwerk.
3. IMPACT HUB IN THE NEWS
NZZ (6.10.2020)
Das X-Tra im Limmathaus ist Geschichte – ab 2024 ziehen Startups ein
Tagesanzeiger (7.10.2020)
Impact Hub statt X-tra: «Der neue Mieter bringt uns mehr Geld»
BaZ (15.11.2020)
Climathon – So wird Basel zum Abfall-Vorbild
Corriere del Ticino (1.12.2020)
Lo spazio 1929 dà… spazio ad Impact Hub Ticino
Corriere del Ticino (18.12.2020)
Sul pianeta Impact Hub Ticino, dove gravitano le idee
SRF Regiojournal Bern Freiburg Wallis (13.10.2020)
Kreislaufwirtschaft ist im Trend
Startupticker.ch (08.09.2020)
Starthilfe für angehende Jungunternehmen im Raum Bern
Handelszeitung (24.9.2020)
Digital Shapers 2020: Laurène Descamps & Amanda Byrde
Horizont (19.08.2020)
Impact Hub Basel Incubator – zweite Edition des Förderprogramms sucht Startups
Ticino Online (17.11.2020)
Un Climathon completamente online, ma di successo
Business Review (17.09.2020)
Innovators for Children – 5 startups rewarded with the 100.000-euro prize
blue News (17.11.2020)
Café spurlos – Sie stellt nur selten den Müll raus
Nau (21.10.2020)
Gemeinsam Lösungen zur Erreichung der Zürcher Klimaziele entwickeln
Ticino Welcome (1.9.2020)
Hackathon Fu-Turismo: la maratona per un turismo sostenibile in Ticino è online.
Netzwoche (10.11.2020)
Scale-ups und Grossunternehmen gleisen 48 Tech-Projekte auf
Heidi.news (15.11.2020)
Transformer une habitude de la pandémie en concept commercial pour le climat
Genève Aéroport (16.11.2020)
Genève Aéroport challenge le Climathon 2020
Léman Bleu, Go Solutions Durables (16.12.2020)
Au coeur des hackathon: la finance durable se réinvente
Radio Lac (14.01.2021)
Comment fonctionne l’économie circulaire?
4. IMPACT HUB IN NUMBERS
Active Members: 1’575 in Switzerland // 16’500 globally
Number of Hubs: 6 in Switzerland // 105 globally
Number of spaces: 8 in Switzerland // 130 globally
Square meters: 6’000 m2 in Switzerland // 84’800 m2 globally
Team size: 136 team members (75 FTEs) in Switzerland
New jobs (p.a.): 2’235 new FTEs created in the Swiss Impact Hub community in 2019
5. IMPACT HUB SWITZERLAND BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Amanda Byrde, Impact Hub Geneva and Impact Hub Lausanne
Christoph Birkholz, Impact Hub Zürich
Connie Low, Impact Hub Basel
Noora Buser, Impact Hub Bern
Tiziano Luccarelli, Impact Hub Ticino
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