Sixteen partnership deals for Swiss startups

Since its launch in 2016, the Kickstart Innovation program has initiated over 310 innovation deals, enabling entrepreneurs to collaborate with key players for proofs of concept, pilot and commercial projects and other partnerships. This year, the program entered its 8th edition, attracting more than 1000 applications from 62 countries, from which 46 startups and intrapreneurship teams were selected to join the 11-week program. At the program's graduation, more than 40 deals have been announced in the verticals of New Work & Learning, Finance & Insurance, Food & Retail, Smart Cities, Health & Wellbeing and Intrapreneurship, were closed.

The 15 Swiss startups that secured partnerships in the respective verticals are:

Finance & Insurance:

• Pelt8 and la Mobilière are collaborating to make efficient & simple sustainability reporting accessible for Swiss SMEs.
• Atlas Metrics, Pelt8 and Swisscom are collaborating on a whitepaper outlining an ESG data utility for Switzerland.
• Calvin Risk and Swisscom are exploring options to add AI Risk Management to the AI & ML offerings of Swisscom.
• Swisscom B2B 3rd Party Services Program, in collaboration with individual B2B business units, announces partnerships with Kickstart Alumni Veezoo, Boomerang Ideas, Typewise, Fjuul Vision, and Canveo. Together with our expert consultation, we offer a range of advanced solutions tailored to the customer's needs: from Veezoo's virtual assistant technology and Boomerang Ideas' innovative market feedback tools to Typewise's AI writing solution, Fjuul Vision's engagement platform for insurers, and Canveo's efficient contract management system - all aimed at improving decision-making, efficiency, and growth for Swisscom customers.

Health & Wellbeing

• Sanitas and QuantActions will collaborate to test how subliminal tracking of mental constitution can be used for early detection of mental diseases in an insurance setting and how Sanitas customers are willing to share their data with either party.
• MSD and NALU will partner up to jointly explore employee benefit offerings around women’s health.
• MSD and alumni Health Yourself will evaluate market applications for HPV testing from home and collaborate on defining and validating an employee benefit offering around women’s health.
• MSD, in collaboration with patient organisations, clinical stakeholders and alumni OneDoc, initiated a nation-wide awareness campaign for HPV (Human Papilloma Virus). As part of this campaign, OneDoc will help patients book an appointment to discover more about HPV and how they can protect themselves, including getting vaccinated.

Smart Cities

• AXA and viboo are exploring a potential Proof of Concept by offering their customers a smart thermostat solution to reduce heating costs in their homes.
• To prepare for a larger roll-out, Swisscom and viboo have teamed up to equip the entire site in Winterthur with viboo's self-learning predictive control algorithms and smart thermostats, reducing heat consumption while improving employee comfort.
• A PoC (Proof of Concept) has been agreed upon between Swisscom Broadcast and Uzufly in order to assess the 3D modeling of Swisscom Broadcast Towers using drone technology for inspection and BIM purposes.
• City of Zurich and Uzufly will join forces to explore the usage of digital twins in construction projects.
• Enerdrape and Empa NEST partner to explore research collaborations and test new product features and configurations.

Food and Retail

• Coop has collaborated with alumni Tide Ocean to introduce sustainable shopping baskets made from recycled ocean-bound plastic. The proof of concept involved transforming plastic waste collected by small-scale fishermen on the coast of Southeast Asia into a high-quality raw material, highlighting the power of partnerships in driving sustainable innovation. The collaborative effort ensured the baskets meet stringent requirements for weight-bearing capacity and durability, proving that Tide Ocean's rPP is a reliable and sustainable alternative to virgin plastic.

New Work and Learning

• PostFinance and Atwork are launching a PoC in which the atwork Suite is being tested to measure the level of self-organisation at PostFinance and to receive scientific and AI-based recommendations for action.
• Swisscom and Aixa partner up to evaluate the power of the human face to make conversation AI/chatbots more accessible and empathetic to customers interested in our products and services.

In addition, Pelt8, in collaboration with approximately 20 organisations, including key Kickstart partners like la Mobilière, is leading the Supplier Sustainability Reporting Standard Initiative. This innovative project aims to streamline and enhance sustainability reporting for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Switzerland. While similar to the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD), our standard is specifically tailored to meet the simplified reporting needs of SMEs, bridging the gap between real-economy supply chains and the requirements of the financial services industry.

(Press release/RAN)
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