SCIENCE ENTREPRENEURSHIP: PUBLIC OFFER VENTURE KICK

SINCE 2007

The venture kick programme is the first of its kind in Switzerland: the pre-seed fund is designed to serve as a launch pad to enable young scientists to turn their research results into products, companies and jobs more quickly, in greater numbers and more successfully than in the past. The draft proposal for this support initiative based around the theme of "science to market" emerged in close cooperation with researchers involved in successful entrepreneurial activities with their spin-off projects. venture kick is a collective initiative of GEBERT RÜF STIFTUNG, ERNST GÖHNER STIFTUNG, OPO-Stiftung and AVINA STIFTUNG.

Pre-seed fund
The "venture kick" fund set up by GEBERT RÜF STIFTUNG and ERNST GÖHNER STIFTUNG as private backers addresses a gap in the transfer of innovation: its focus is on turning research work into promising business ideas. Venture kick not only funds the first steps of people with ideas, but also develops their entrepreneurial skills. A three-stage process culminates in a sound business plan and in specific plans for putting ideas into commercial practice. Since 2008 OPO-Stiftung and from 2010 also AVINA STIFTUNG co-sponsors venture kick. As a result there is an annual budget of CHF 3.5 million.

About the area of activity
An important concern of GEBERT RÜF STIFTUNG is the conceptual and entrepreneurial interaction with science. This concern stems directly from the foundation's purpose which is: "To support Switzerland as a top location for business and as a place to live". At the heart of its area of activity "Wissenschaft und Unternehmertum" is the promotion of "Science Entrepreneurship" among the younger generation of academics at Swiss universities.

Gaps in the innovation chain
Basic research is a crucially important part of the university and research landscape, as befits Swiss universities' leading position in various areas of research. However, basic research focuses on insights within the realms of science. Transfer mechanisms geared to putting discoveries to use in practice are therefore less well developed. GEBERT RÜF STIFTUNG's NETS programme, which, in the guise of the venture leaders programme, has now been subsumed into the government-funded venturelab initiative of the CTI, already addressed the need for support for early-stage entrepreneurship.

>venturelab

>venture leaders

>KTI: Die Förderagentur für Innovation

NETS - New Entrepreneurs in Technology and Science
Support for interfaces both between education and business in the broader sense, and between scientists and entrepreneurs in the narrower sense, is a core objective of GEBERT RÜF STIFTUNG – and one which stems directly from the foundation's purpose. Launched in 2007, the venture kick initiative was the forerunner of the NETS programme (New Entrepreneurship in Technology and Science). The programme was built up successfully between 1999 and 2004 and was GEBERT RÜF STIFTUNG's first major programme initiative after the foundation's establishment.

>The NETS Experience: Learning Points for Science Entrepreneurship Programs

Common thread
A common thread can be traced from the wishes of the founder, as expressed in GEBERT RÜF STIFTUNG's foundation purpose, to the now completed NETS initiative, to the Swiss government's ongoing successful venturelab programme and to the current venture kick support programme, which has so far been jointly developed by three private foundations. The key objectives inherent in this common thread are: to achieve a leverage effect, to precipitate synergies and to enter into partnerships.

Contact
GEBERT RÜF STIFTUNG foundation office:

Dr. Pascale Vonmont, Deputy Director

pascale.vonmont@grstiftung.ch, Fon +41 270 88 24

venture kick programme and management:

Beat Schillig, c/o IFJ Institut für Jungunternehmen, Kirchlistrasse 1, 9010 St. Gallen

beat.schillig@venturekick.ch, Fon +41 242 98 68

Jordi Montserrat, PSE-C, 1015 Lausanne

jordi.montserrat@venturekick.ch, Fon +41 21 693 90 71