On 9th of February, Swiss citizens had a voting on a delicate topic: the restriction of immigration in Switzerland. Around 56% of people have expressed their opinion and this dangerous initiative (for Swiss economy) has been finally accepted by 50.34% of people (or an advantage of around 19’000 people). Everyone has to accept it, because that’s direct democracy… People have voted with their emotions and fear of foreigners – even if Swiss citizens are not at all racist. Every urban area (where percentage of foreign population is higher) has voted against this initiative, which proves this. I’ve been hearing some breaching stories where some employers did all wrong. Probably, there are things to change to fight against that. Swiss population has expressed its choice to regulate more immigration, like many countries do (green card in the USA, Canada, Australia, etc.). …
“Le miracle suisse”… or why Switzerland is out-performing its neighboring countries
Just before Christmas, French television channel France 2 published a report on why Switzerland is succeeding in the current economical uncertainty, while France cannot get out of the ground. This 93 minutes documentary is structured around 4 topics: Swiss companies perform in exporting their products and services, even with high salaries in international comparison The education system, and why young people can find a job. It makes a great job on explaining that the social elevator still work in Switzerland (you don’t need to be the “daughter/son of…” to get a good work position and responsibilities… if you work hard) The political system. And why strikes is something that we don’t understand in Switzerland. The attraction power of Switzerland for people living close to its boundaries, and why it can be sometime tense people living between both sides. The TV coverage …
Startup events you cannot miss early February
As everyone is back from vacations now, it’s time to start again with networking and startup events. In Switzerland, February typically goes with Lift Conference (and the Venture Night, gathering 8 Swiss startups). But this year, there are 2 new, startup-oriented, events happening alongside Lift Conference. You cannot afford to miss these 2 new events if you’re interested by startups. Here they are! SEEDSTARS WORLD On 4th of February, it will be the grand final of this worldwide startup competition, which took place in 20 emerging countries during 10 months. More than 1’000 selected startups (it was an invitation-only competition) applied locally. The 20 winners (one per country) will be presenting their startup and one will be awarded by a jury with an equity investment of up to CHF 500’000.-. You’ll be able to discover the mindsets of entrepreneurs from all over the …
Fostering Swiss startup scene: for entrepreneurs, by entrepreneurs!
Switzerland is not poor in supporting agencies to help young entrepreneurs and foster innovation. There are many initiatives on a federal (like CTI, the Swiss Commission for Technology and Innovation) and regional level (launched by technology parks, cities or cantons). The major problem (if any), is that all of these programs are often managed and powered by non-entrepreneurs. Of course, you don’t need to be entrepreneur to be smart. But once you have a bit of startup experience, you quickly recognize the guys who give you standard and general advices. Why entrepreneurs don’t do something? First of all, because entrepreneurs have their own startup to care about. Secondly, because there are really few (web) entrepreneurs based in Switzerland who made a big enough exit to think about giving back (that is, helping the next generation of entrepreneurs). But things are …
What are you doing early February? Register to Lift Conference now and save 20%!
We are 3 months away from the famous biggest innovation conference in Switzerland: Lift Conference. Lift will happen early February 2014 (5-7th) in Geneva. The conference keeps the same format: workshops, Venture Night (startup pitch session), inspiring talks from top speakers (on the future of work, the sharing economy, managing innovation cycles, markets becoming conversations, and so on…). Discover the schedule here! As every year, Lift is a great place to network with entrepreneurs, creative people and top influencers from around the world. I have a special discount for you (but only valid one week from now: so, until 18th of November, at 08:30 am (CET)): 20% discount on the 3-day pass (savings CHF 195.-)! How to get your pass? Register here and use the following discount code: a_STARTUPOLIC_20poff Enjoy Lift Conference!
NOAH Conference – THE internet conference in Europe?
There are a lot of startup conferences happening. From Next Berlin to Web Summit, from LeWeb to Pioneers Festival, you could spend almost all of your time at conferences. How do select the ones to attend as an entrepreneur? It’s hard, really hard. And I’d argue that if you’re an entrepreneur who want to make real business, you’d better go to conferences related to your industry, where you can find customers. But you still have to attend startup conferences to meet potential investors and partners. Most events are open to anyone, but a few are invitation-only, like DLD Conference and NOAH Conference. I’ve attended the former earlier this year (which was pretty good) and NOAH Conference is happening next week in London (13-14th of November). Having a look on the program and the list of attendees, it really seems to …
Welcome to the “Grand Bazaar” of startups
For the second year, I’m attending Dublin Web Summit these days (I’ve written about it last year: Ireland – a European Startup Eldorado?). The event, which already was the biggest in Europe with around 4’000 attendees for 2 days, has now more than doubled in size with more than 10’000 people among the smartest minds in the world. I was already impressed by the high number (250) of startups presenting last year. Now, the startup village has more than tripled (900+ startups?). It’s a great opportunity to go out of the garage and meet people. But I don’t know how efficient it will be for startups to meet guys. Sure, there are speed networking meetings which are organized. But with the biggest size, you’re competing for attention with a lot more startups. Yes, that’s like to get awareness and attract …
Meet 8 promising startups from Switzerland!
Swiss startup scene is lively, even if you don’t read a lot on international blogs. Maybe because a lot of startups bootstrap a long way before possibly raising a ton of cash (you know, that’s often what interest big startup blogs – a financing round is often seen as a success, but I’d argue that’s only an often necessary milestone to grow faster and which may lead to success). But the point is that there are a lot of entrepreneurs out there building interesting tech startups. On November 4th, 8 of them will have an opportunity to present their concept! I’m organizing the 2nd ICT Investors Day in Western Switzerland, at Chambre Vaudoise de Commerce et d’Industrie in Lausanne, at 17:00. After a presentation of the innovation promotion agency Innovaud, the following 8 startups (which were selected by our jury among 23 applying startups) will …