The Campus Opens Its Hub for Aspiring Entrepreneurs
© 2013 Alain Herzog
The Forge, located in EPFL’s Innovation Park, provides aspiring entrepreneurs an office to develop their startup as well as a location for networking and advice.
The dream of opening an entrepreneurial venture raises many questions. Where will you work? And where will you meet people capable of helping you out until you can get by on your own? A desk in a laboratory, at home, or in a cafeteria may be temporary solutions. What has been missing so far is a place where embryonic startups can grow and evolve. Now, young entrepreneurs seeking support and a workspace can turn to the Forge, which opened its doors on November 19, 2013, at EPFL.
The Forge offers an open space with a conference room, several meeting booths, free Internet access and a printer. The place is flexible: there are no reserved offices. Even though it only just opened, it already hosts 16 future companies in fields as diverse as computer science, life sciences, and communications – confirming the need for such a place. Some make it their headquarters, others meet there from time to time with their team, while others use it for appointments.
During the incubation period theForge serves as more than just an office. It provides an ideal venue for its residents to interact and share ideas. Coaches consult new entrepreneurs on the development of their project, target market, or research funds. Informal meetings are regularly organized there with seasoned entrepreneurs, professional investors and other players in the startup ecosystem. These discussions provide insight, ideas, inspiration and visibility.
Budding entrepreneurs already installed at the Forge remark on the benefits of exchanging ideas with other occupants of this brand new space. Talking with their peers, whose companies are at the same stage of development, they share their concerns and especially their solutions.
The projects selected by the CTI or Venture Challenge educational programs, as well as those who have received initial funding (for example, through an Innogrant), can get a free spot. Progress reports are issued at regular intervals. Future startups occupy a space for a six-month period, renewable once, providing sufficient time to assess whether the initial spark can evolve into a concrete project, raise funds, and advance to the next step, either at the “Garage,” the Innovation Square, or elsewhere.