The core idea of the Kickstart programme is to harness the innovation potential of start-ups and foster collaboration with established companies to address increasingly complex market conditions. This year’s solutions are diverse, spanning from carbon-neutral materials to advanced AI applications that drive efficiency and transformation across industries, demonstrating that breaking down silos and uniting expertise leads to the best results through innovation and partnership.
“The range of deals is broadening, encompassing an increasing variety of sectors, from core business to cutting-edge innovations driven by AI and sustainability, from core business to new innovations powered by AI and sustainability. For example, the finance and insurance sector requires technology-driven solutions in order to continue to meet the high individual requirements of the customer base,” explains Katka Letzing, CEO and co-founder of Kickstart Innovation.
Selected Synopsis of 2024 public partnerships with Swiss start-ups:
Partnerships in the Food & Retail Vertical:
- Coop and UpGrain are joining forces to make a contribution to closing the cycle.
- Coop and ProSeed are working together to identify opportunities in various product areas and to use recycled ingredients coming from the ProSeed process – a step that will help promote sustainability in the food industry.
- Coop and B'ZEOS are working together to examine existing packaging and technologies in which plastics can be replaced by alternatives based on algae.
Partnerships in the New Work & Learning Vertical:
- Swisscom and Moodtalk are partnering to improve teamwork at Swisscom using the AI-based teamwork assistant from Moodtalk.
- Sanitas will collaborate with Joineer to push towards an open culture within Sanitas, based on mutual exchange and reflection. The “feedforward” philosophy of Joineer will boost Sanitas’ positive, solution-oriented mindset and speed up organizational learning.
Partnerships in the Finance & Insurance Vertical:
- La Mobilière will collaborate with hypt to test how hypt can improve customer feedback capabilities, generate qualitative leads, and enhance customer satisfaction, including better Google ratings for individual locations. Hypt will be integrated into the advisory process at the general agency level, and the results will be continuously monitored and analyzed.
- Sanitas is partnering up with hypt to digitalize their word-of-mouth management for improved lead generation and measurable consulting quality.
- AXA and hypt intend to launch a pilot for the digital and automated activation of customers.
- Swisscom and Neur.on have partnered to design a secure AI toolbox tailored for Swiss legal and financial professionals. Through their Kickstart PoC, Neur.on is among the first companies to test the deployment of its AI solution for specialized legal and financial translations on Swisscom's brand-new, state-of-the-art GPU infrastructure.
- A project has been initiated to use hypt and strategic word-of-mouth management to generate live feedback from the Startup ecosystem and to source high-potential Investment Cases for Swisscom Ventures.
- PostFinance and hypt have identified three promising use cases to be tested through Proof-of-Concepts (PoCs) to evaluate the effectiveness of word-of-mouth as a marketing tool. The first PoC agreement is expected to be signed before the end of the year.
Partnerships in the Smart Cities Vertical:
- Irmos and Romande Energie are discussing a Proof of Concept aimed at maximizing the safe operational life of crucial energy infrastructure, as well as to minimize downtime and improve resilience in response to disasters.
- Irmos signed a project with the infrastructure department of the City of Zurich, with the goal to maximize the safe operational life of an existing bridge by combining intelligent algorithms with cost efficient sensors.
Partnerships with Kickstart Alumni and other announcements:
- The IMMO of the City of Zurich is using Viventa Thermostat and Viboo in a pilot project at the technical college.
- Swisscom B2B 3rd Party Services Program, in collaboration with individual B2B business units, announces partnerships with Kickstart startups including, Neur.on and hypt.
A list with all public partnerships including those with start-ups from abroad can be downloaded below.
Since its foundation in 2016, Kickstart Innovation has supported over 490 start-ups and facilitated over 340 deals in the form of pilots and commercial projects. Kickstart startups have raised more than CHF 2.8 billion in investments for innovations since the inception of the program, of which over CHF 245M this year only.
(Press release / SK)