In a mission to spur innovation activities through concrete idea development and testing, NTN Innovation Booster cultivates a culture of open innovation to build the next generations’ Swiss Food Ecosystems.

NTN Innovation Booster – Swiss Food Ecosystems, powered by Innosuisse, is an initiative supporting open innovation. The focus on open innovation shall support the development of new solutions to agrifood challenges ranging from GHG emissions, food waste and nutrition. And in doing so, Swiss companies get a competitive advantage and create important added value for the Swiss economy and society.

CHF 21.3 Mio was funded to the initiative to develop 1000 radically innovative ideas from 2021-2024. Out of which, they expect to support 600 new innovative ideas and enable 200 follow-up projects.

Join their webinars

Discover how to boost your innovation process and prepare all your questions for the upcoming NTN Innovation Booster. You only need 30 minutes to know how you can be part of the solution for the next generation’s food ecosystem.

Upcoming dates:
 

• 08. Feb. 2021, 17-17:30 (FR)
• 15. Feb. 2021, 17-17:30 (EN)
• 18. Feb. 2021, 17-17:30 (FR)
• 04. March 2021, 11:45 -12:15 (EN)

CONTACT

Suisse Agro Food Leadinghouse
Passage du Cardinal 11
1700 Fribourg

innoboost@swissfoodecosystems.ch

Latest News

Farmy, the largest selection of fresh produce in Switzerland, achieved huge growth of 170 per cent in 2020 amid the pandemic.

During the Covid-19 pandemic, Farmy has seen high consumer demand for healthy and local food delivered conveniently to their doorsteps. This resulted in an almost triple turnover in 2020 from 9.7 Mio CHF to 26 Mio CHF, all while saving 400 tons of CO2.

To ensure demands for security and contactless transactions are met, the company had to expand its logistics; increasing the workforce from 133 to 220 employees, moving into larger confectioning centres and investing in additional vehicles and refrigeration capacity. Meanwhile, Farmy Co-CEO Tobias Schubert praises his team’s flexibility and excellent internal IT competence that ultimately helped them achieve this great feat.

Latest News

AgroSustain is a one-stop-shop solution for biological plant protection. Based at the Agroscope Institute of Changins (State of Vaud), the company aims at reducing food waste while ensuring everyone has access to healthy foods.

As the world focuses even more on sustainable and organic food production, AgroSustain offers to extend the freshness of crops by more than 20 days. This results in a significant drop in food waste, the third-largest producer of greenhouse gases in the world. Its first product, AgroShelf+, prevents mould from attacking crops, post-harvest, without affecting the taste.

The idea first started with co-founder and CEO Olga Dubey when she first learned about anti-fungal compounds. She wanted to offer a natural product to the market that could potentially replace chemical solutions while ensuring the safety of humans and biodiversity.

Meanwhile, AgroSustain’s research team of highly qualified PhDs with expertise in chemistry, plant biochemistry, and molecular and evolutionary biology, are working closely with institutions like the University of Lausanne and Agroscope to develop products for pre-harvest crops.

Find out more:

AgroSustain
Agroscope, Batiment AO, Route de Duillier 50
Nyon, Vaud 1260, CH 

For inquiries, you can contact them here.

Latest News

Join the upcoming intense and tailored startup internationalization bootcamp organized by swissnex China and Innosuisse to take a deep dive into the China market, while leveraging the exciting opportunities within the world’s largest and most dynamic sustainable Agri-Food space.

The China Agri-Food-Tech Bootcamp 2021 offers Swiss startups a unique opportunity to take a deep dive into the fast-growing Agri-Food space in China, gain insight into the specific IP / legal frameworks while connecting with potential partners and customers.

Organized by swissnex China and Innosuisse, this program will provide tailored support to participating startups via virtual workshops, exclusive pitch sessions to investors, IP & regulation consulting, as well as market research reporting, connecting them with investors, industry experts and potential partners, while maximizing their exposure to a broad audience in China. This program is offered free of charge to the selected startup attendees.

The participating startups are encouraged to travel to China to further develop and implement
their local market entry as international business travel resumes.

• Application Deadline: February 20, 2021
• Virtual Bootcamp: March 22-31, 2021
• Tailored Individual Support: Upon arrival in China, 2021-2022

General information
• Virtual Bootcamp duration: March 22- 31, 2021
• Detailed bootcamp agenda and logistics details will be announced in early March.
• Important: Applying startups need to be in the Innosuisse coaching program.

Camp support
Swissnex China provides tailored, individual guidance to Campers by delivering virtual
workshops, exclusive pitch to investors, IP & regulation consulting, market research report
during the period while international travel is still restricted. When participating startups are able to
travel to China in person within the stipulated Innosuisse China Camp period, swissnex China
can facilitate 2-3 connections with relevant entities for further market validation or market entry.
Startups are expected to follow-up with the contacts and complete camp milestones. 

Travel stipend
All startups are encouraged to travel to China to further develop the market after the Virtual
Bootcamp. Innosuisse and swissnex China will offer travel stipends of CHF 3000 (Market
Validation Campers) or CHF 6000 (Market Entry Campers) to startups who will travel to China in
person during the camp year.

Eligibility
Participating startups are required to be currently active in an Innosuisse Coaching program, or
have recently obtained an Innosuisse Certificate / CTI-Label in the last 3 years.
If you're not in the Innosuisse Coaching program, apply here. If the timeframe is tight, we advise
you to apply for coaching and camp in parallel. 

CONTACT
Reach out to our program manager to learn more:

Ms. Simin Yang
simin.yang@swissnexchina.org

Latest News

Launched in 2016, Swiss based company nutriMenu facilitates the creation of healthy, seasonal and regional menus in canteens.

Too fatty, too salty, too much meat or not enough vegetables? Canteens in Lausanne, Zürich and other cities across Switzerland are now equipped to analyze what they put on their menu. Thousands of people, especially children, have been tasting for more nutritious lunch thanks to nutriMenu, an application that measures the nutritional quality of meals.

Developed by the Swiss start-up Myravan Solutions in partnership with the City of Lausanne, the application is used in ten kitchens managed directly by the Cities as well as in private catering sector such as SV Group and university canteens such as EPFL. NutriMenu facilitates the creation of healthy, seasonal and regional menus through its web portal, helping chef balance their choice of ingredients.

Based on Swiss quality standards for collective catering that promote healthy eating (OSAV and SSN), nutriMenu uses a scientific and detailed approach to evaluate and monitor the nutritional quality of menus and allows for a clear communication to consumers through a visual scoring system. The software will also evaluates overall balance of meals throughout the week.

Launched by a team of qualified dieticians with expertise in public health:

At the origin of the project, clinical dietitian's Maryam Yepes realized the importance of training cooks while teaching at the Ecole Hôtelière de Lausanne and through her Ph.D. research in public health at the University of Lausanne: "Canteens chefs' impact on public health is enormous: they prepare millions of meals and if you can reduce salt or fat even just a little, you dramatically improve the nutritional quality of a dish.".

In her experience as a trainer, consultant and independent dietician for catering professionals, Maryam is convinced that technology can help cooks. "There isn't sufficient training when it comes to nutrition. Chefs do not necessarily have the tools or the time to properly apply the theory they have learned." 

Today, Maryam’s mission is to improve public health through nutriMenu, a tool to facilitate the preparation of healthy, sustainable and deliciously balanced meals in the catering industry using a digital and innovative approach. 

Find out more:

Latest News

Dear Reader,

As we enter a new period and welcome 2021, we're taking a few minutes to reflect back on an unprecedented first year. As for many others, the Swiss Food & Nutrition Valley expected 2020 to go quite differently. 

Not so long ago, our schedules were filled with in-person events and meetings with many of you across the country and around the globe. These plans quickly changed due to the current pandemic. But innovation never sleeps and instead, we've had to pleasure to connect with many of you through video calls, webinars, as well as our first General Assembly which was a first step towards gathering the Swiss food ecosystem under one - albeit virtual - roof.

The pandemic has also been revealing. On the one hand, we've accelerated the need to transition to a more resilient food system, locally and across the globe. On the other hand, it's highlighted consumers' willingness to change their habits towards healthier and more sustainable practices. These developments further underline the relevance and necessity of initiatives such as the SFNV.

We'd like to thank you for your part in keeping Switzerland's food innovation ecosystem growing; and to all of our new members who have joined us in our mission to establish Switzerland as a global food and nutrition innovation hub.

Wishing you a very happy new year and look forward to continuing the discussion with many of you in 2021,

Christian Schwab, EPFL
President of the Executive Committee
Swiss Food & Nutrition Valley

Our goals for 2021 :

Levels of Action

We Foster Ecosystems

We strengthen and promote the Swiss food innovation ecosystem by uniting key stakeholders, enabling collaboration and attracting talent, startups and investment to Switzerland.

To Advance Innovation

We create content and establish project plans to address major challenges in food, nutrition and agriculture, from a sustainability perspective, using cutting-edge science and technology.

Latest News