SWISS PRIME SITE GROUP

For the living spaces of tomorrow

We work together with start-ups to intensify our innovation process and drive forward pioneering technologies and business models. Our Start-up Accelerator Programme provides a platform that brings together start-ups, industry specialists, and partners from our network for a two-day event where they can develop new ideas and solutions.
«It's amazing when companies turn their words into action and encourage their employees to develop innovative and sustainable solutions in collaboration with start-ups. I'd like to give the start-ups the following advice: take this opportunity and be prepared to deliver! Personally, I'm delighted by the collaboration with the experts, who asked the right questions and helped us develop our business case further», says Dr Gnanli Landrou, founder and Lead Executive Officer of Oxara, when asked about his participation in the most recent Workshop of our Accelerator Programme. This is already the tenth time we have conducted this format to scout for scalable business models and technology innovations. And our search has been fruitful indeed …
For this special anniversary, the event focused on ConstructionTech and Smart Materials. We picked eight start-ups from more than 80 applications and invited them to present at our main Zurich office in the Prime Tower. The jury was made up of our internal specialists from the Portfolio Management, Construction & Development, Corporate Ventures & Innovation divisions as well as specifically
selected business and network partners.

Four start-ups managed to impress the jury members with the potential of their products and services. In the hours that followed, the objective for these finalists
was to further demonstrate this potential and develop specific use cases. Our experts supported the start-ups, offering their knowledge and individualised coaching. «By interacting with the start-ups and my colleagues in the industry, I had the opportunity to move beyond the day-to-day business tasks, allowing me to think more openly and discover new solutions», said one jury member.
To wrap up the two busy days, the start-ups presented their detailed business cases one last time in the final pitch.

The business cases included intelligent heating and cooling ceilings equipped with membranes (Interpanel), induction solutions for charging electric cars (Magment), a method for stabilising soil with microbe injections instead of cement or other chemical substances (Medusoil), and a production process for cement and bricks that massively reduces CO2 emissions (Oxara).

In all four cases, the expert jury recognised the value of a partnership in the form of pilot projects, PoCs or by offering testing space to assess their feasibility.
Bastian Zarske Bueno, Head Group Corporate Ventures & Innovation, commented: «As the orchestrator of the Accelerator Programme, we are proud to have found products and services that are both ground-breaking and sustainable, and that can also be realised in the short to medium term. We
look forward to guiding the projects and the start-ups on a path to success together with our partners and are excited about providing the impetus for developing a new business ecosystem.»
This article was published first on Swiss Prime Site's homepage. If you want to know more about their Corporate Ventures & Innovation division and the Start-up Accelerator Programme please follow this link.