Gebert Rüf Stiftung is an enabling and actively participating grant-making foundation which is committed to providing project-related start-up financing and funding projects with seminal or keystone potential. It does not wish to simply finance existing and tested activities, but rather to support innovation and thus strengthen Switzerland as a top location for business. The foundation aims to use its limited resources as a form of risk financing subject to ongoing evaluation, to help get novel pilot projects off the ground.

Taking advantage of its special position as a private, non-institutional and politically independent organization, Gebert Rüf Stiftung finances and supports educational and research projects with outstanding pioneering potential. It is not intended as a source of funding for projects that aim to optimize existing approaches following the «faster, higher, better» mode. The focus is on ambitious initiatives led by competent junior scientists who are eager to effect change and implement it in an entrepreneurial manner.

Gebert Rüf Stiftung intends to provide groundbreaking, fresh impetus to science and society. For this reason, the foundation places top priority on synergizing and networking individual projects, which are in turn anchored to specific areas of activity. In order to achieve this, the foundation employs its resources in a flexible yet focused manner. Its aim is neither long-term nor serial financing of projects. Gebert Rüf Stiftung sees itself not as a mere sponsor or distributor of funds, but as a partner and an active member of the project team. Thus, conventional grant allocation goes hand-in-hand with strategic and effective action.