The previous 21 founding shareholders of Switzerland Innovation Park Ost AG are now joined by a further 9 shareholders from the Eastern Switzerland region, bringing in a total of additional capital of CHF 1.55 million. The Innovation Park is thus reaching another milestone in its development program and is gaining additional funds for important investments.
Under the motto “Connecting Great Minds”, the SIP East wants to strengthen cooperation between companies in eastern Switzerland and the research institutions based here : Empa , University of St. Gallen , OST University of Applied Sciences , Cantonal Hospital of St. Gallen and RhySearch . The focus is on the topics of health, digitalization and sensor technology. Information events and workshops are intended to accelerate the transfer of know-how and the commercial implementation of research knowledge. This strengthens the innovative strength of the companies involved and thus the economic location of Eastern Switzerland and the Principality of Liechtenstein.
New shareholders
The new shareholders of SIP Ost are (in alphabetical order) the Appenzeller Kantonalbank , Cavera AG, Hälg & Co. AG , the Metrohm Foundation , the OST University of Applied Sciences , the St.Gallisch-Appenzellische Kraftwerke AG , the Thurgauer Kantonalbank and private individuals Martin Fengler (founder Meteomatics ) and Roger Dudler (founder Frontify ). Some of the new shareholders plan to work closely with the Innovation Park in the future, thereby strengthening not only the capital base, but also the growing ecosystem of research partners and innovative companies.
New level of collaboration
Flexible working options are being desired more and more – whether in the home office, on the road or in co-working. The Switzerland Innovation Park Ost goes one step further and on its campus in the west of the city combines the flexibility of the co-working spaces with an environment that is driven by the spirit of innovation and the opportunity for exchange and networking. In this dynamic work environment, you can quickly advance your own ideas.
Roland Ledergerber , Chairman of the Board of Directors of SIP Ost, is pleased about the successful capital increase: “I would like to warmly welcome our new shareholders and thank them for their trust in our still young development project! Behind each individual contribution there is a connection to the topic of innovation. We also particularly appreciate the commitment of the two young entrepreneurs Martin Fengler and Roger Dudler, who were supported by Startfeld and have been working with our team for a long time.”
Capital for investments
The SIP East is working on setting up lighthouse projects that are intended to have an attractive effect and promote innovation. These include the Health Innovation Hub, Sensor Innovation Hub and the Business Innovation Hub. These Innovation Hubs will include a program of events and workshops as well as an experience laboratory with new innovative products. Another lighthouse project currently under construction is the “SIP Ost Knowledge Database”. With the help of generative artificial intelligence, publicly available information is continuously viewed and semantically analyzed. A particular advantage of this approach is the possibility, similar to ChatGPT, of identifying specific competencies of companies and institutions, even if these are not explicitly mentioned in the communication.
Such flagship projects require investments in equipment and infrastructure as well as considerable time spent initiating cooperation projects. To finance such projects, the current capital increase to CHF 5.0 million was decided upon when the company was founded in 2021. It is particularly pleasing that the subscription target of CHF 1.55 million was significantly exceeded.
About Switzerland Innovation
The Switzerland Innovation Park East is part of Switzerland Innovation, a network of six innovation parks throughout Switzerland, which is based on a joint initiative by public institutions, science and the private sector and a legal mandate from the Federal Council. Switzerland Innovation forms an ecosystem that enables universities and innovative companies to work together and use their knowledge and research results to develop new marketable products and services. www.switzerland-innovation.com
