Funding for science-based innovation

For researchers motivated to translate their research results into innovative products and services, there are different funding schemes available at a university, regional and national level. On the university level, formats such as the UZH Entrepreneur Fellowships have played an important role in supporting young researchers to translate research results through the foundation of a startup. On a regional and national level, the funding schemes provided by DIZH (Digitalization Initiative of the Zurich Higher Education Institutions) and Innosuisse support the development of innovative solutions and translation through inter-institutional collaboration and implementation with partners in industry.

In 2022, seven researchers received an Entrepreneur Fellowships and three projects were supported by a Digital Innovation Grant. UZH researchers were involved in four projects within the DIZH innovation funding program, addressing topics such as Cyber resilience in the canton of Zurich and Digital Health. A total amount of 15 UZH innovation projects were granted support by Innosuisse, including both projects in the range of CHF 100’000 – 500’000 and innovation checks of CHF 15’000. Of the supported projects, eight projects were in the area of life sciences, three in the area of ICT, two in the area of business management and one respectively in agrotech and education. In total, innovation funding makes up only a small part of the funding at UZH with around 3% of total project funding.