A toolbox for creating your start-up!
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Are you a student, doctoral, post-doctoral, with a diploma from EPFL, from the University of Lausanne, or from any other Swiss university? If you dream of launching your own company, or if you want to get your project off the ground, we give you a hand-up over six months or in only 54 hours.
Venturelab is a national program from the Commission for Technology and Innovation (CTI) that is supported by the Swiss Confederation. The many training courses offered by the organization are all free, and they are for both budding entrepreneurs and those who have already acquired some experience.
This year, its activities begin on February 21st with the “Venture Challenge”. During a semester, experienced professionals provide – once a week – the essential tools required for starting a company: including a business strategy, marketing, business plan, and building a winning team. This basic training takes in 25 participants per semester. It’s provided in French in the Winter and in English in the Fall.
From March 2nd to 4th, the Rolex Learning Center will be the venue for the 2nd “Start-up Weekend”. This event is intended for all those who love a challenge, and aren’t afraid of the idea of creating a company in just 54 hours! Activities include meetings with developers, marketing specialists and designers.
“In 2011, we welcomed 3602 participants on our courses in Switzerland, which represents an increase of 17% compared with 2010,” explains Pascal Vermot, responsible for communication at Venturelab. Since Fall 2007, more than 200 start-up projects have been financed. These start-ups have in turn succeeded in raising nearly 200 million Swiss francs in funding and have created more than 1000 jobs. Among some of the success stories involving Venturelab participants are:
- Abionic, start-up from EPFL, has developed biosensors, real miniature laboratories. They enable the diagnosis of allergies in the doctor’s surgery. The device should come on the market in 2013.
- Dacuda, a spin-off from ETHZ that has succeeded in selling its hand-held mouse-scanner to the Korean industrial giant LG. The two co-founders of the company actually met during a Venture Challenge in Zurich
- Lemoptix, a spin-off of EPFL which last September signed a big partnership contract with the Japanese group Hamamatsu Photonics. Its founders have developed pico-projectors that can be integrated in small devices such as cellphones.
If you’re interested, you can register on the web site of Venturelab
www.venturelab.ch
http://lausanne.startupweekend.org.