Regional innovation systems complement national and cantonal innovation funding. The Western Switzerland Innovation Network Association (ARI-SO) encourages companies in the region to innovate by offering them a wide range services, particularly coaching in business and technological innovation. The platform seeks to stimulate a dialogue between companies and with universities and public authorities, and in the process help to shape an ecosystem that is conducive to innovation. Margaret Collaud and Patrick Albert explain why support for innovation also needs to be addressed at the local level.

Margaret Collaud: ARI-SO offers its innovation support activities and collaborates with entry points in six cantons in western Switzerland, namely Fribourg, Vaud, Neuchâtel, Geneva, Jura and Valais. We also draw on four sector-based platforms: BioAlps for life sciences, Alp ICT for information and digital technologies, Micronarc for micro and nanotechnologies, and CleantechAlps for clean technologies and sustainability. On top of that, we use technological innovation coaching services from Alliance. As programme director, I oversee the services we offer to companies to support them with their innovation projects.

Patrick Albert: For my part, I lead business innovation coaching activities through our Platinn services. Around 200 businesses per year call on us to help them with various issues that arise during the lifetime of a company, such as business development, establishing partnerships, sourcing finance and optimising operations.

M.C.: Our primary objective is to grow – or simply to maintain – GDP, employment and competitiveness, with a focus on digitalisation and sustainability. Our approach is sector-neutral for Platinn coaching, but addresses four specific sectors via the promotion platforms Alp ICT, BioAlps, CleantechAlps and Micronarc. Each canton sets its targets based on prevailing local economic conditions. As a decentralised network, we have six cantonal branches so we can be as close as possible to SMEs and start-ups on the ground.

P.A.: Innovation is essential in a high value-added economy like Switzerland’s. The cost of labour in our country is high. To remain competitive in this environment, companies have no choice but to leverage their expertise in niche markets.

M.C.: Innovation is vital to promoting the resilience of Swiss companies. To achieve it, they need to operate as part of a network. Our programme helps to shape this ecosystem, which brings together companies, political stakeholders and training institutions.

P.A.: On the contrary – it's in times of crisis that we see demand for our innovation support services increase the most. The pressure on margins is getting stronger all the time. This started in watchmaking and has since spread to industry as a whole, in a way that is even more noticeable for export-oriented companies. Against this backdrop, it is more important to innovate than ever.

P.A.: Innosuisse promotes the transfer of technology and knowledge between universities and companies. Our approach is complementary to this: we help companies to free up and develop their own innovation resources. Coaching provides the opportunity to take a step back from operational business in order to identify possible solutions.

M.C.: Sometimes we bring together several company managers through collective coaching, which encourages them to share their experiences and best practices. This is suitable for pre-competitive, cross-sector issues such as raising awareness of sustainability matters and promoting intergenerational understanding in the workplace. One issue that often comes up for companies is how to adapt to Generation Z and their different expectations and aspirations in the world of work.

M.C.: Cortexia is an interesting one, because the company has taken advantage of several of our services for both technological and business innovation. The Fribourg-based SME designs solutions that allow cities to assess the cleanliness of their streets so they can allocate their cleaning resources more effectively. The first time, we supported them through Alliance coaching for a technological innovation project, which enabled them to obtain funding from Innosuisse. The second time, via Platinn coaching, we helped them to raise finance and industrialise their solution, before embarking on the next step of internationalising their activities. Cortexia has also benefited from visibility in the ecosystem of the CleantechAlps platform.