EP #390 - Pascale Vonmont & Roger Wüthrich-Hasenböhler: Why Swiss Innovation Isn’t Living Up to Its Full Potential

Timestamps:

2:10 - 25 years of Swiss entrepreneurship

3:01 - The Kick Fund 

10:38 - The problem of segmented startup initiatives 

17:40 - The 4 areas of Deep Tech Switzerland

24:06 - The role of the Swiss government

About Pascale Vonmont & Roger Wüthrich-Hasenböhler:

Pascale Vonmont is the director of the Gebert Rüf Stiftung, and Roger Wüthrich-Hasenböhler is the non-executive vice-president at Swisscom, and a former member of its Group Executive Board. 

Gebert Rüf Stiftung is one of the initial partners of the Kick Fund, whose goal it is to invest in Swiss pre-seed and stage technology startups from the Venture Kick pipeline. Venture Kick is part of the Kick Foundation, which is supporting young entrepreneurial talents at Swiss universities. The close collaboration with the Deep Tech Switzerland Foundation (where Roger is also active) secures the financing and support pipeline from startup to scale-up. Roger and Pascale feel that Swiss startup initiatives ought to break down silos and work together, sharing their resources, so as to facilitate the commercialization of Swiss innovation.

This episode was produced in collaboration with startup days, taking place this year on May 30th 2024. Click here to purchase your ticket.