Innosuisse is an entity under public law with a separate legal identity, which is composed of three bodies. The composition and responsibilities of the bodies are set out in the Federal Act on the Swiss Innovation Promotion Agency.
Board
The Innosuisse Board of Directors comprises six specialist representatives from industry and academia. It is the strategic body of Innosuisse, which it manages in line with the Federal Council’s strategic objectives and with an eye on the future.
The composition of the Board of Directors ensures a close link between academia and industry. The Board of Directors members are also familiar with innovation management and know the mechanisms and challenges surrounding funding innovation as well as the political frameworks. The Board of Directors also has proven skills in strategic management, business administration and law and compliance.
The Federal Council elects the Board of Directors and the committee for a service period of four years.
President
André Kudelski
Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer, Kudelski SA, Cheseaux-sur-Lausanne
As membres
Sergio Ermotti
Group CEO of UBS AG, Zurich
Anja Koenig
Global Head of the Novartis Venture Fund, Basel
Aude Pugin
CEO of APCO Technologie, Aigle Member of the audit and compliance committee (ACC)
Kristina Shea
Professor for Engineering Design and Computing at ETH Zurich
Anna Valente
Professor at the Scuola universitaria professionale della Svizzera italiana (SUPSI), Manno
The Innovation Council is the specialised body of Innosuisse that is at the centre of the agency’s innovation promotion activities. The main duty of the Innovation Council is to review, analyse and take decisions on funding applications and to support the execution of funding activities. To carry out its work, the Innovation Council has access to a pool of experts with dedicated specialties. The Innovation Council also plays a key role in drafting the funding strategy to be approved by the Board of Innosuisse.
In its selection of innovation councillors, the Board of Directors focuses on personalities that have an excellent track record in innovation, who are professionally active and can put their experience to the best use for its tasks for Innosuisse. The Innovation Council also has a diverse composition in a cultural sense: twelve members work in German-speaking Switzerland, nine in Romandy, and two each in Ticino and abroad.
The members of the Innovation Council are elected for a period of four years.
The thematic units make decisions within the remit of the Innovation Council on funding applications for all funding instruments that are thematically assigned to them. They also provide scientific guidance to accompany the funding, where the responsibility is not assigned to the plenum, an individual member of the Innovation Council or a cross-thematic unit.
There are five thematic units, as follows:
Information and Communication Technologies (ICT)
Life Sciences
Engineering
Energy & Environment
Social Sciences & Business Management
Flagship
The Flagship unit is responsible for accompanying the implementation and further development of the funding within the framework of the Flagship Initiative. In this context, it makes decisions e.g. on funding applications submitted under a call for proposals by the Flagship Initiative. It also prepares a process for the plenum of the Innovation Council concerning the definition of future topics.
Swiss Accelerator The Swiss Accelerator unit is tasked with attending the presentations during the third and final phase of the evaluation and decision-making process in the case of calls for proposals under the Swiss Accelerator, as well as making the funding decisions for this phase. In addition, the Swiss Accelerator unit accompanies the projects during the funding period.
Knowledge and Technology Transfer (KTT) The KTT unit is responsible for making all decisions within the remit of the Innovation Council regarding contributions to Innovation Booster and Neworking Event Series.
Entrepreneurship The Entrepreneurship unit is tasked with taking decisions on contracts with third parties in the areas of information and advisory services, training and awareness-raising measures, and internationalisation programmes and international trade fairs, where these decisions do not fall within the remit of the Innovation Council plenum.
Experts
Experts assist the Innovation Council with examining applications for funding and during accompanying projects. It is their job to endorse, or oppose, applications for innovation projects.
The experts come from various backgrounds and must have considerable expertise in the area of scientific innovation. They must demonstrate skills in scientific research and the ability to evaluate innovative projects, especially in start-ups. In addition, the experts’ main professional activity must pertain to scientific innovation.
The experts are selected by the Innosuisse Innovation Council and proposed to the Board of Directors before they are elected. When selecting candidates, the Innovation Council ensures equitable representation with respect to:
gender;
national languages and linguistic regions, based on the percentage of the Swiss population they represent;
people who play a major macroeconomic role in the economy and society.
The management team is Innosuisse’s operational body. It directs the Office, manages the activities and monitors the budget of the innovation funding agency. Dominique Gruhl-Bégin is the director of the team.
The Secretariat is Innosuisse’s control centre. Around 100 people work in our offices in Bern; they implement the funding activities in accordance with the requirements of the Board and the decisions of the Innovation Council. The executive committee holds all threads together; it directs the operational funding activities.
The Swiss Federal Audit Office SFAO is the auditing body of Innosuisse. It assesses the annual financial statements and the execution of an appropriate risk management and reports its findings to the Board and the Federal Council in the form of a report.
Eureka – the international network for innovation collaboration
Eureka is an international network that supports cross-border innovation projects. It brings together companies and research institutions from over 45 countries to jointly develop innovative solutions.
Innosuisse’s mission is to promote science-based innovation in the interests of the economy and society. Innosuisse’s actions are guided by three values.
Laws, ordinances and implementing provisions
The SIAA and RIPA laws form the basis of our activities. The relevant ordinances and regulations govern our promotional activities in detail.
The Innosuisse coaches
As part of Start-up Coaching, Innosuisse coaches support entrepreneurs to help them set up and develop their start-ups.
