LAUSANNE Fathi Derder, Conseiller national and President of Le Réseau has announced government approval of a series of initiatives to boost start-up competitiveness.
Drones by Sensefly
These include improving tax treatment of investors, creating a “fund of funds†to finance start-ups and establishing a second stock market (similar to AIM in the UK). These initiatives go a long way to addressing concerns expressed by Swiss entrepreneurs in the 2014 CH60 Start-ups survey conducted by Bilan and Le Réseau.
The survey found that while 61% of entrepreneurs would do another start-up in Switzerland (against only 10% in the EU), funding for R&D, a 1% pension fund allocation and tax breaks for investors were cited as in need of improvement. Derder announced the move during the Swiss Commission for Technology and Innovation’s celebration of the first anniversary of its Entrepreneurship Training Program in Suisse Romande.
Illustrating the depth and inventiveness of Suisse Romande’s start-up sector, 14 new and less new start-ups, such as Sensefly, a drone manufacturer, and Scientific Visual, the developer of technology to identify flaws in synthetic gems, presented their businesses to over 200 business leaders, entrepreneurs and investors at the event.
