Innovation in Switzerland
Just google “innovation in Switzerland” and it’s surprising to learn that there’s hardly anything recent (in neither the German nor English language) on the topic popping up. One of the very first search results is a joint study of the Swiss–American Chamber of Commerce and the Boston Consulting Group dated from 2008. Their research doesn’t predict much good and I’m afraid things haven’t changed much until today. It carries confronting quotations in it like one from a member of the Swiss national council: “Considering the risk involved, it is not very appealing to become an entrepreneur in Switzerland.” Another Swiss entrepreneur mentions that “our wealth is our biggest enemy.”
So, what is innovation?
Andreas Schönenberger (CEO Google Switzerland) thoroughly summarizes what needs to be done:
“Innovation is based on great ideas, an open environment and significant rewards. Those countries that are able to foster the spirit of start-ups, ease the financing, reduce the regulatory/administrative effort to a minimum and allow innovation leaders to capture proceeds from their efforts will see more innovation happening.” (from BCG study mentioned earlier).
Why is there a lack of real innovation in Switzerland?
1. Fostering the spirit of start-ups
Main question still remains: where do start-ups and new ideas fit in such environment? Right now I see several initiatives that are just there so the initiators can tick this task off their to-do lists. One great example is the technopark in Zurich, and initiative realized by local government and business. I’ve worked there for about eight months and I can confirm that nothing is being done to “foster the spirit of start-ups”. The entire set up is wrong: it’s a large building with lots of offices with in the middle a canteen, auditorium, and copyshop. Inside you have the feeling you’re in a highschool gym. Neither their website, mission statement (“we run competencies”), venue, nor their events or employees contribute to facilitating an innovative climate to the residing startups. I fear it’s the opposite: innovation is not fostered but killed.
2. Ease financing
I’m trying to make clear that “ease financing” is not just a matter of cash itself, but just as much about the people behind the money. The visions and choices of just a few local VC’s and business angels have a large impact on opening up innovation in a small country as Switzerland. Moreover, if more wealthy people would dare to take more risk and invest directly into startups they think are cool and prosperous – things could look much better quickly. To market such a thing could be the responsibility of the Swiss government and if they don’t have the people who can do this, then it would be wise to hire smart and young people who can!
3. Reducing regulatory and administrative effort to a minimum
Administration and regulations slows down any process. This is the entire and obvious point: Innovation is trying to create something new, to provoke, enhance, and therefore change the system we live in.
The author of this (outdated) OECD research on productivity growth and innovation in Switzerland mentions that the conditions for creating new firms in Switzerland “are not as favorable as they could be”. To improve this, the report mentions that the Swiss need to revise their domestic market law, so that administrative and technical barriers to imports can be removed to reduce administrative burdens. This is also what BCG concluded in the report mentioned earlier.
4. Innovation leaders in Switzerland (allow innovation leaders to capture proceeds from their efforts)
Are you wealthy? Invest some of your money in startups directly. You can then tell your friends you’re a business angel and support entrepreneurship and on the other hand you really play a key role in enabling change and innovation. It’s like voting: it starts with you!!
Are you a boss? Continuously encourage your employees to think for themselves and ask them how they think they would improve the department or project you’re responsible for. You will get rewarded for it by your team (you value their input), as well as by your superiors (you deliver fresh approaches and remarkable results). If you’re a smart person, you’ve already hired just employees who are smarter than you are on your team.
So far the deciding factors on how innovation is achieved according to the quote of Andreas Schönenberger’s. I’d like to add two more factors that have not been discussed much yet.
5. Switzerland as a brand
This was a “picture of the day” from Facebook of a friend of mine. Clearly, she’s an artist (thanks Elena!). You should take the image above with some irony, but the text is kind of true. Even though “Made in Switzerland” stands for quality, Switzerland is not known for its openness or attraction (and retention!) of intellectuals from abroad, nor are the Swiss themselves famous for being emotional (in public at least). Cultural factors like these could explain the absence of a truly open, entrepreneurial, and innovative Switzerland. You can’t blame people for having a conservative attitude or culture, but you can blame the existing institutions that are responsible for boosting innovation for not doing a better job. If there are really no insiders that want to step up and make it their life-mission to really open up and pave the way to a truly innovative Switzerland, then why not buy the right knowledge = hiring foreign top talent and let them go wild in key decision making positions. Everyone will benefit!
6. Corporate mindset
It’s entertaining to learn that the so called Swiss Innovation Forum – search result nr 3 in google on “innovation in Switzerland” – has literally written in their mission statement that they exist as a platform to offer entrepreneurs best practices and benchmarking strategies. If you type in their website address without www in your browser, the website doesn’t load….how’s that for cutting edge innovation! I don’t think that the TED forum should be afraid for competition from this corner.
7. Who are the existing players?
Besides the above mentioned Technopark, there’s the Amt für Wissenschaft und Arbeit, some local venture capitalists like Redalpine, Mountain Partners, and Brains to Ventures. Have a look on their websites: I like brains to ventures as at least the team members smile on their profile pictures. The others do not look very approachable to me (serious men in suits and no single woman on their teams!), even though I respect some of the names listed there. It seems that there is hope though: this EIS report from 2009 compared innovation performance in Europe and concluded that Switzerland has risen in being innovative due to its very rapid growth in venture capital.
Other associations that contribute to innovation in Switzerland in certain ways are startzentrum.ch, the SECA, the IFJ (consists of venuturekick, venturelab, startup.ch, and some others, but it’s one organization), gründen.ch and the already mentioned Innovation Forum.
My personal selection of organizations and individuals that I believe really contribute to a more innovative Switzerland are the Gottlieb Duttweiler Institut with their mission, event content, and “next practice” (not best practice) researches. Also Alexander Osterwalder pulls together a lot of innovation from all over the world. While Alexander is Swiss, Switzerland benefits. Also, Brainstore in Biel is another great example, but I’ve heard from several ex-employees that the company is not doing too well and might be dissolved. The Brainstore concept on its own is a great one though, as they mix business with art. I’d love to be involved in a company like that (if you have a suggestion, let’s discuss it).
How can we make Switzerland more innovative?
Being an entrepreneur myself, my mission is to improve the ways corporations communicate and do business today. When I founded my first company I was (and still am) frustrated about the way people communicate and blindly accept corporate culture and politics in the organization at the instants they start working there. Below are some of my suggestions how innovation in Switzerland could be fostered in Switzerland.