Over the weekend of April 26 – 28, 2024, enthusiastic startup enthusiasts worked at the Switzerland Innovation Park East to develop and pitch new business ideas. The Techstars Startup Weekend St.Gallen attracted around 50 potential startup founders with a wide variety of ideas. In addition, 140 guests listened to the experiences of watch legend Jean-Claude Biver.
During 54 hours, participants of the Techstars Startup Weekend St.Gallen had the opportunity to transform either their own business idea or that of a team member into a promising startup. At the same time, they benefited from inspiring keynotes by Jean-Claude Biver, an icon of the watch and luxury goods industry, Melanie Gabriel, founder of Yokoy, and Marc Mächler from the canton of St.Gallen. They also benefited from valuable advice and honest feedback from experienced mentors who, as established entrepreneurs, had themselves overcome similar challenges along the way.
Exploiting the region’s potential
“The Startup Weekend offers potential founders an excellent platform to network with like-minded people and put ideas into practice together. The dynamics and exchange throughout the weekend were impressive and confirm the great potential of our regional startup scene,” notes Niklas Rückwald, organizer of the event.
Market potential identified
The highlight of the weekend was the final pitches, where each business idea was presented to a jury of investors. “The ideas presented were of impressive quality and innovative power,” enthuses juror Bettina Hein. “It is impressive to see the commitment and creativity of the young entrepreneurs and how they are driving forward innovative solutions with real market potential.”
In the end, the “Gaudio” project convinced the jury the most with its innovative solution for the interactive and digital design of museum visits. This gave them the opportunity to present their newly developed business idea to the Startfeld expert committee. The audience award for the best pitch went to “Biocharly”, which wants to develop a new method for water treatment using biochar. In addition, many other promising business models were pursued at the Techstars Startup Weekend St.Gallen, which will hopefully be further developed as startups in the future.
About Startfeld
Startfeld – the startup support program of Switzerland Innovation Park Ost AG – supports entrepreneurs in the commercial implementation of their startup ideas from the founding to the growth phase. The network for startups was founded by the University of St.Gallen, the FHS St.Gallen (now: OST – Eastern Switzerland University of Applied Sciences), Empa, the City of St.Gallen, the St.Galler Kantonalbank and Swisscom. Thus, a strong connection to research-driven entrepreneurship and science was established right from the start. In 2022, Startfeld will merge with Switzerland Innovation Park Ost AG. Since then, the funding activities have continued to the same extent under the new organization.
