Switzerland counts itself among the most innovative countries in the world. Our strength in innovation is strongly linked to international collaboration, as Aude Pugin, CEO of APCO Technologies, has experienced. The CEO, who is also a member of the Board of Directors of Innosuisse, explains to us why innovation requires an openness to the world.

You can’t innovate in isolation; international collaboration is essential. Switzerland has a long history of innovation, driven by favourable framework conditions, the structure of its high-added-value, export-oriented economy, as well as its integration into a European dynamic. We are a small country, and our openness to the world is the only way we can take part in large-scale innovation projects with a global reach.

Most definitely. The European Space Agency (ESA), of which Switzerland is a founding member, is a textbook example of effective international collaboration. Here, 22 countries pool their skills and resources to work together on projects that would be impossible to execute in isolation. Our country’s participation in the ESA opens up opportunities that can be found across the worlds of academia and business. And we are seeing the benefits of this, with cutting-edge companies and a dynamic scene for start-ups in the space sector, investments, a diploma in space technologies at the EPFL, to name but a few – all of which creates an ideal ecosystem for fostering innovation. In mid-2024, when all eyes will be on the maiden flight of Ariane 6 – which is crucial to Europe’s continued autonomy when it comes to access to space – Swiss technology will take the limelight. Firstly, it is the Swiss company Beyond Gravity that is supplying the launcher fairing. In addition, it is at Aigle that APCO designs and manufactures the couplings for the rocket boosters, which will provide the thrust needed for lift-off, as well as the nose cone of the new launcher.

It’s very problematic. Switzerland is deprived of some of the dynamism of the European sector, of its financing and of the transfer of know-how, and this also leads to complications and additional costs for companies, such as in the medical technology and industrial sectors, which are already suffering or will soon suffer the consequences. This climate of uncertainty and an inward-looking mindset is detrimental to innovation, which requires an openness to the world, exchange and diversity. Switzerland is one of the few countries to have such a strong bilateral relationship with the European Union, and this is an asset we must develop further if we want to remain attractive and maintain our prosperity in the long term.

You have to know how to build your network, through partnerships and joint projects, and have structures that allow for these exchanges between companies, with the academic world and with investors. At APCO Technologies, we have had positive experiences collaborating with innovative start-ups. They bring creativity and a new way of looking at problems. This new blood motivates the teams of well-established companies to take on new challenges, while the start-ups benefit in turn from our experience in structuring themselves. You need to know how to combine complementary skills.

Innosuisse plays a key role in creating bridges between the worlds of business and academia, allowing for the transfer of technology, as well as applications for creating products and services based on advances in research. In terms of international cooperation, Innosuisse has expanded its programmes by increasing the scope for international collaboration, both with specific countries – such as the United Kingdom, South Korea and Germany – and within the framework of networks such as Eureka and Eurostars. In this way, Innosuisse is helping to create an ecosystem in which the various stakeholders – small and medium-sized enterprises, start-ups, multinationals, as well as investors and research institutes – can work together effectively, both in Switzerland and on an international scale.