Swisscom launched the StartUp Challenge 2016 in mid-March. The spots in the Business Acceleration Programme are very sought-after: More than 200 start-ups applied – the most that have ever applied since the first challenge in 2012, and the top 10 have now been chosen. These companies will now have to prove themselves on 16 August at the EPFL, because only the best five start-ups will be flying to Silicon Valley.
208 start-ups submitted an application for the Swisscom StartUp Challenge this year. And the category IT, Web and Software was clearly dominant with over 90 applications. The areas of Hardware and FinTech were also well-represented with nearly 30 applications each. Other participating start-ups come from the areas of E-Commerce, AdTech and Big Data as well as E-Health, Smart Home and Security. More than 90% of all of the young, participating companies come from Switzerland. And most of the applications come from the catchment areas close to the Lausanne and ETH Zurich universities.
An internal jury, consisting of innovation and product managers as well as top management representatives, has selected the top 10 start-ups. During the selection process, the jury took a close look at the general potential of the start-ups. They also evaluated the chances for cooperation or implementation of the respective technology. The jury was particularly impressed with the following ten start-ups: Advanon, Biowatch, Catch Eye, Fashwell, Lykke, Nanolive, qipp, Qumram, xorlab, Xsensio (further information on the start-ups can be found via the link below).
Swisscom, together with its partner venturelab, has invited the top 10 start-ups to take part in the ‘Pitch’ at the campus of the Ecole polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), which will take place mid-August. This is where Swisscom and the EPFL are establishing a competence centre for digitisation within the scope of their strategic partnership. Here the start-ups will need to impress the highly qualified jury, which includes Roger Wüthrich-Hasenböhler (Chief Digital Officer Swisscom) and Adrienne Corboud (Vice President EPFL), to name a few. The five best start-ups will fly to Silicon Valley in autumn.