On September 2, 2021, representatives of the 21 founding shareholders launched Switzerland Innovation Park Ost AG in St.Gallen. This means another milestone for the generation project Innovationspark Ost.
In spring 2021, the Federal Council decided to include the Innovation Park East as the sixth site operator in the overall Swiss Innovation Park network. The project is being pushed forward intensively behind the scenes. With the inaugural meeting of Switzerland Innovation Park Ost AG, which will in future legally act as the sponsor of Innovation Park Ost, the work on Thursday has now reached another important interim goal.
Strengthen the competitive position of Eastern Switzerland
In his welcome speech, Economics Director Beat Tinner emphasized the strategic importance of the Switzerland Innovation Park Ost for all of Eastern Switzerland. “By improving the framework conditions for innovations and actively promoting the networking of business, research and educational institutions, we are creating the basis for improving the competitive position of Eastern Switzerland in the fight for skilled workers.” According to Tinner, the fact that all of the eastern Swiss cantons and the Principality of Liechtenstein pursued the same goal as part of the application to become a fully-fledged network location for Switzerland Innovation was a key factor in the success of the project.
bring top executives together
The main goal of Switzerland Innovation Park Ost AG is to generate additional private research and development investments, in this way to strengthen the innovative power of Eastern Switzerland and to create new, attractive and, above all, sustainable jobs, said Roland Ledergerber, President of the Board of Directors, summarizing the thrust of the park. The next step is to recruit the management of the AG and the employees of the office. “By the end of 2022, we want to develop functional structures and, in particular, establish those relationships with our partner and research institutions that we can use to identify promising innovation projects in the medium term,” says Ledergerber.
A generational project
The Chairman of the Board of Directors expects that Switzerland Innovation Park Ost AG will reach its full potential in 2025 and break even in 2031. «The construction of the park is without a doubt a generational project, which will make above-average demands on everyone involved. The benefits for Eastern Switzerland and the enormous potential of the project justify the effort.”
In ten years, the Innovationspark Ost should have grown into an indispensable, effective system where researchers from universities and innovative companies work together on the development of new marketable products and services and create attractive jobs in Eastern Switzerland.
The Board of Directors is elected
The focus of the founding meeting in St.Gallen, in addition to the approval of the founding documents and the articles of association, was the election of the Board of Directors of Switzerland Innovation Park Ost AG. In addition to the President Roland Ledergerber, the following personalities belong to the committee: Andrea Berlinger Schwyter, Gian-Luca Bona, Andreas Christen, Beat Hirt, Thomas Hirt, Stefan Scheiber, Gabriela Senti and Paul Sevinç.
