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 changing.
A group of 5 entrepreneurs (leaded by the frenzied agitator Xavier Bertschy) launched the Swiss Tech Association back in October 2013, as a hobby. Its goal is to foster the national Tech scene (well, you understand why I’m keen on such initiatives!) by providing active support to young entrepreneurs and by help them to network with smart people. Basically, it’s a network of entrepreneurs powered by entrepreneurs (no political drive behind, which is a good thing!).
Based in Fribourg, the association runs a serie of events, the Swiss Tech Talks. Two events have been successfully organized so far (on The future of Leap Motion and on Basics of gamification). The third one is coming next Monday (9th of December – on Getting started with Drupal) and the guys have published the program for January/February (discover the agenda!).
A second project that the association would like to release is the Swiss Tech Map, to reference tech oriented companies, startups and events (hey Alexander and Dominik, something you should discuss with them!).
The third initiative currently in the pipeline is to launch an 4-months accelerator (the Swiss Tech Accelerator). But this is probably longer term, as it requires a consequent funding. And there are already so many accelerator programs everywhere… let’s see if the association can find an interesting angle to launch a Switzerland-adapted program (I think that the traditional model requires some adaptations to fit with the mentality).
In any case, you should give a shot on Swiss Tech Association (or even join it). It’s worth it.