From deepfake detection to responsible AI, Switzerland confirms its position as a global hub for innovation and new collaborations.

Switzerland strengthens its position as European capital of innovation with the launch of the programme Kickstart Innovation 2025, which marks a symbolic milestone: ten years of revolutionary experimentation, high-impact collaborations, and cross-sector transformations across key industrial sectors.

This new edition of the Open Innovation Program brings with it 36 top startups from 14 countries – including also United States, Hong Kong, South Africa e Australia – a testament to the global reach of the initiative. What stands out, once again, is the strong Swiss presence. In fact, a quarter of the selected companies are Swiss., confirming the strength of the local ecosystem in developing breakthrough technologies. The challenges addressed range from real-time deepfake detection to future food systems, from epigenetic tests for biological age measurement to responsible artificial intelligence solutions.

“We are not talking about simple technological experiments, but about solutions that will define Switzerland's competitive advantage in the next decade,”

declares Katka Letzing, CEO and Co-Founder of Kickstart Innovation.

From 2015 to today, the path has already generated tangible results: we are talking about over 2,8 billion Swiss francs of investments raised by alumni startups until 2024. A track record that makes the 2025 edition a new turning point, with the aim of redefining the boundaries of health, nutrition and technology thanks to a data-driven and sustainable approach. The decisive factor support of strategic partners such as AXA, the City of Zurich, Coop, la Mobilière, MSD, PostFinance/VNTR, Swisscom and many other leaders in the Swiss economy.

First things first: what is Kickstart Innovation, an innovation accelerator?

Kickstart Innovation It is now one of Europe's largest zero-equity open innovation platforms, aiming to build ecosystems capable of transforming ideas into concrete solutions. Its mission is clear: accelerate innovation by fostering collaborations between startups and established organizations, creating fertile ground for the growth of high-impact projects.

Each year, the program selects and connects approximately 100 startups and scale-ups from over 80 countries, who work alongside major players. The areas of focus range from deep tech to sustainability, addressing crucial challenges across six key verticals: New Work & Learning, Finance & Insurance, Food & Retail, Health & Wellbeing, Smart Cities e IntrapreneurshipThese are different fields, but all capable of intercepting the most decisive megatrends of the decade, promoting significant collaborations between startups and leading Swiss organizations and public institutions.

Over time, Kickstart has fostered the creation of over 340 commercial partnerships, supporting 490 startups on their journey to scale. This commitment also translates into long-term initiatives, such as the Mission 2050 program and the KickSTART Projects. But also the Kickstart Academy, which since 2025 has given birth to Swiss {ai} Weeks, Switzerland's largest AI collaboration: five weeks of over 160 events in 24 cities, designed to transform AI research into real-world applications through workshops and opportunities for discussion with citizens, students, and entrepreneurs.

In this regard, Katka Letzing's words:

From sustainable biomaterials to preventive medicine, from AI-powered innovation to digital transformation: Switzerland represents the ideal ecosystem for this revolution – a highly interconnected region, oriented towards excellence, and characterized by unique decision-making capacity. The Swiss {ai} Weeks initiative, which we proudly co-launched, demonstrates and amplifies this leadership.

A mosaic of innovations spanning medicine, AI, and more sustainable cities

As already mentioned, with the 2025 edition Kickstart Innovation is not just celebrating ten years of activity. The program also shows how Switzerland should be both an incubator of excellence and a gateway to the European market. Among the selected companies, 25 percent are Swiss startups, often born as spin-offs of prestigious academic institutions such as ETH, EPFL, and cantonal universities, or developed in the country's main technology hubs.

There are examples that demonstrate this, which touch on crucial frontiers. From Lausanne comes Genknowme, with an epigenetic blood test capable of revealing biological age and stress-induced changes, positioning Switzerland among the world leaders in longevity medicine. In Zurich, meanwhile, a new research project is active. Aurigin.ai, which has developed technology to identify audio and video deepfakes in real time, offering an urgent response to the threat of digital disinformation.

Alongside local companies, there is no shortage of international scale-ups that see the program as a platform for growth in Europe. The Australian Meeco offers a secure data exchange solution based on privacy-by-design and low-code tools. WeShop AI, from Hong Kong, uses artificial intelligence to generate images and videos of products for e-commerce starting from a single photo. Finally, the Viennese Infrared.city uses AI to simulate urban microclimates and support the design of more sustainable and livable cities.

The result, clearly, is not that a mosaic of innovationsInside, each piece demonstrates Kickstart's strategic role in connecting talent and industries beyond geographical borders.

Academy and Intrapreneurship: When Employees Become Founders

Innovation doesn't just come from startups. On the contrary, It can also sprout within already consolidated organizations, if employees are given the space to think and act like entrepreneurs. This is the philosophy behind the Academy Intrapreneurship Program Kickstart, which supports public institutions and large Swiss companies in creating new businesses from within, from the validation phase to scaling.

This year, five startups are taking their first steps through this program. Among the teams involved are companies like CSEM and HSG START Accelerator, confirming the program's ability to leverage skills already established in the country. Bahaa Roustom, VP Business Development at CSEM, confirms:

Venture building allows our employees to think and act like a startup, within the organization, but with true entrepreneurial responsibility. We're not just adopting innovation; we're creating it from within.

In parallel, Kickstart integrates this vision with long-term initiatives such as Mission 2050, which aims to catalyze innovations capable of generating concrete impacts in terms of environmental regeneration, social equity, and resilience by mid-century. This program includes the Beyond Services for Social Inclusion (BSSI) project, born from the collaboration with AXA Switzerland, which aims to bridge critical gaps within communities by co-creating inclusive solutions together with scale-ups.

"Collaborating with startups through Kickstart allows us to address societal challenges in new ways. By co-creating solutions, we can improve resilience and inclusion across Switzerland while remaining at the forefront of innovation."

stresses Daniel Steingruber, Open Innovation Lead at AXA Switzerland.

The strategic value of the program: Switzerland as a global laboratory

If Kickstart's goal is to connect startups and organizations to generate innovation, the place where all this happens is not accidentalSwitzerland is a hub capable of combining manageable size, strong international connectivity, and a pragmatic approach that facilitates the transition from idea to implementation. It is precisely this combination that makes the country a magnet for international startups. Here, startups find not only strategic partners but also effective operating conditions to test solutions for global markets.

The 2025 path will find its synthesis in a key event: the November 12th at Kraftwerk in Zurich The pilot projects and collaborations developed during the program will be presented. This will not only be a celebratory event, but also a true testing ground for the Swiss ecosystem, offering investors, companies, and institutions direct access to emerging technologies and innovative business models. For participating startups, it will be a springboard toward concrete collaborations and potential global scaling.

The startups and Intrapreneurship teams involved this year

Finance & Insurance

• UMushroom (Switzerland)
• Fini (Netherlands)
• Legora (Sweden)
• Hello Customer (Belgium)
• Almanac (United States)
• Superlikers (United States)
• Datactics Ltd (UK)
• Aurigin.ai (Swiss)
• Meeco (Australia)

Food & Retail

• Pacifico Biolabs (Germany)
• WeShop AI (Hong Kong)
• Circly (Austria)
• Food Brewer AG (Swiss)
• Kokomodo (Israel)
• FruitfulAI (Swiss)
• Green Spot Technologies (France)

Health & Wellbeing

• Genknowme (Swiss)
• Maven Health (Swiss)
• VivoSensMedical (Germany)
• Traverse Health (Netherlands)
• Opmed.ai (Israel)
• Spearfish Corporation (United States)

New Work & Learning

• Evolve (United States)
• digemy.com (South Africa)
• Mindstone (United Kingdom)
• zick learn (Ireland)
• Schole (United States)

Smart Cities

• Infrared City GmbH (Austria)
• mygrid (Swiss)
• FindMee (Swiss)
• WattAnyWhere (Swiss)

Intrapreneurship teams

• SecondWave (CSEM)
• SmartHear (CSEM)
• HELIOW (CSEM)
• NEEDLESS (CSEM)
• Shell (HSG START Accelerator)

The official presentation of the 2025 edition of Kickstart Innovation

The stories and projects that marked the 2024 edition of Kickstart Innovation

The stories and projects that marked the 2023 edition of Kickstart Innovation

The stories and projects that marked the 2022 edition of Kickstart Innovation

The stories and projects that marked the 2021 edition of Kickstart Innovation

Here are three insights that might interest you:

Swiss {ai} Weeks: 160 events for a digital and ethical future
Kickstart 2024: A Model for Swiss Innovation
How Kickstart 2025 and Switzerland are leading European innovation