The innovation team at Swissnex in India creates tailor-made, boutique experiences for Swiss startups and corporates to explore India as a business innovation destination.

We do this in three steps for Swiss startups, and depending on the requirements, you are welcome to choose all three or even one of the stages you’d like us to help you with. If you’re looking at India as a market for the first time, we help you “discover” it or gauge your market potential and business landscape in India. If you’ve already determined India’s market viability, we help you “validate” your startup with in-depth research, access to experts and we even mentor you on ways in which you could adapt your business model—including the possibility of conducting a pilot project—to the Indian ecosystem. And finally, as you prepare to “enter” the market, we curate a bespoke list of and connect you with investors, potential customers and partners, and assist you in actually starting your business in India. At every step, our goal is to empower you with the knowledge, connections and resources necessary for the Indian market.

We help Swiss corporates in several areas, no matter which stage your association with India is at. Everything we offer is customised to your company’s needs. If you’ve never explored India, we provide you with reports and analysis on how facts and figures interact with government policy in India so you can plan and make informed decisions. We also arrange for members of your team to visit India by way of a sabbatical to work on new ideas. We conduct landscape analysis and create reports based on material from primary and secondary sources that will make you aware of strategic areas for innovation collaboration. Once you define a clear objective, we accordingly familiarise you with current trends and connect you with key accelerators, universities and companies in related fields so you can become aware of the potential here. If you already have offices here, we help you utilise the potential talent of your workforce to their highest level, while also empowering them as intrapreneurs. We scout for cutting-edge technology and startups as well as universities particular to your needs to enable the right collaborations.

This is not an exhaustive list and we are more than willing to assist Swiss startups and corporates with requirements beyond what’s mentioned. We have worked with about 180 companies since we launched in 2010. We have more than 30 years of cumulative experience in the Swiss and Indian landscape across industries as well as a very strong network. Besides, nobody understands Swissness like we do.

Think of Swissnex as a trustworthy friend that hand-holds Swiss entrepreneurs through the entire process starting from exploring India as a market to setting up shop here. We are sector agnostic and we strive to enable knowledge exchange and collaborations between corporates and startups.

If you are a Swiss researcher-innovator and are interested in exploring entrepreneurship, the Market Discovery Camp is intended specifically for you. The idea is for you to explore whether your high-level applied research can be brought to the Indian markets. Every year a cohort of ten researcher-innovators is selected by way of the competitive Academia Industry Training (AIT) programme.

The Market Discovery Camp is an all-expenses-paid training programme spanning two weeks, where a ten-member cohort will spend one week in India and—after a gap of three-six months—one week in Switzerland. The gap is for the cohort to absorb their learnings and strategise accordingly before the second leg of the camp. Final selection of the cohort will be made by an expert jury.

Candidates are expected to prove their interest in India by presenting their hypothesis on why India is an exciting destination for them. Some ways in which you could do this is by telling us whether you see value in codevelopment in India, whether you think of India as an eventual market, if leveraging India’s strengths to expand to the world is what excites you, or if you want to understand the process of inexpensive development. Feel free to include other reasons for your interest in India. The more compelling your argument, the better your chances are at getting selected.

During your in-person India week, you can expect Swissnex in India to help you:

• Understand India’s unique business culture
• Understand the cultural ecosystem to see how your product fits in the market
• Understand the boundary conditions of your sector—how it is structured, different categories of potential clients, rules and regulations, governing bodies. This knowledge would allow you to think about how you’d like to frame your innovation in the Indian ecosystem including where you could place your innovation, what resources you’re likely to need to place your innovation
• Recognise and map the Indian ecosystem in a way that helps you understand the geographical and social constructs that would work best for your innovation
• Gain knowledge of the basic tenets of conducting business in India, including protecting your IP, setting up a company, potential costs of space and hiring
• Understand how funding works in India
• Establish professional contacts including networking with Indian peers in the same sector
• Ask tough questions so you are equipped to make informed decisions in order to minimise risk
• Connect with subject-matter experts
• Make public presentations at tech conferences and startup events that are attended by technology and innovation startups, multinational companies, investors, policymakers and key players in the ecosystem
• Gain a 360-degree view of the Indian ecosystem and its potential so you can make the right decisions including figuring out whether it would make sense for you to consider India as a market in the first place, and whether it is the right time for you to consider it

In the duration after the first leg of the camp, you will have time to reassess and rework your proposal based on your learnings.

In the second and final leg of the camp, you can expect:

• Masterclasses on incorporating your company; business development; team building and management; negotiating with investors
• Relevant company visits
• Presentation of your innovation to the Swiss ecosystem as well as a networking evening

On the final day, you will present your learnings to an expert jury, at the end of which the two top researcher-innovators will stand a chance to win a grant of CHF 10,000.

The Academia Industry Training (AIT) programme is supported by the Swiss government’s State Secretariat for Education, Research, and Innovation (SERI). AIT is mandated by the Zurich University of Applied Sciences (ZHAW), which is the Leading House for South Asia and Iran. In Switzerland, it is managed by Venturelabs, while in India we at Swissnex manage and execute the programme.

If you are a Swiss startup that is interested in and ready to enter the Indian market, the Market Entry Camp, also powered by Innosuisse, is for you. The customised programme lasts for three months where the Swiss startup will be provided with resources and support needed to enter the Indian market. This includes determining the most suitable company structure that would make sense for your business, tax implications and hiring your first employee, as well as developing a market to find your first customers. You will have the opportunity to attend relevant workshops, receive mentorship from experienced players and network with suitable stakeholders.

In the process of entering the market, we’ll help the Swiss startup identify potential partners and collaborators, and modify your products to suit the Indian market. We’ll also connect you with potential partners, customers and investors,  as well as assist you with market development and finding the first customer for your business.

During your time here in India, you will be assigned a working and meeting space with on-site support as well as a stipend of CHF 6,000 to cover your travel and F&B expenses. Applications for the Market Entry Camp are accepted on a rolling basis.

Like the Market Validation Camp, the Market Entry Camp, requires that the Swiss startup be enrolled in one of the three Innosuisse Coaching Programmes—initial, core or scale-up. You can also apply if you have been awarded the Innosuisse Certificate within the past three years. Startups that do not fulfil either of these criteria must first apply to the Innosuisse Coaching Programme.

While the startup has the option to attend the Market Entry Camp either in-person in India or online, which is tailored to the requirements of each of the startups, we prefer that the Market Entry Camp be attended in-person since repeated touch points are needed to build confidence in India.

During the camp, you can expect Swissnex in India to help you:

• Get access to a platform where you’ll have the opportunity to promote your offering by positioning at industry events
• Liaise with policy-makers at the government level
• Test your product in India via pilot projects
• Facilitate company setup, payroll management, legal considerations, first employee recruitment
• Look for and finalise appropriate office space

In this one-two month in-person workshop, we’ll provide you with thorough intelligence on startup communities including accelerators and incubators, investment funds, academic institutions, research centres and the top-10 startups that would be relevant to your business. As the first step, this information will make you aware of potential areas for innovative collaborations.

Through our sabbaticals, we promote high-potential employees of your company in working on specific problem statements, defined by and strategically relevant to you. This is an opportunity for you to advance your international innovation as well as a chance for your promising talents to expand their horizons and feel inspired. Based on your requirements, you can choose whether you’d like for your employees to engage in a one-two day online immersion programme, a hybrid programme with four weeks in India and a few sessions online, an eight-week programme in India, or a residency for a duration of your choice where your employees will have workspace access on a monthly basis.

If you already have an engagement strategy in place for the Indian market, we’ll help you explore partnerships and investments with startups in India by way of targeted scouting. Over a period of three-six months, based on your requirements, we’ll review and shortlist 50 startups with whom you can explore collaborations. Based on the final value proposition, Swissnex will initiate discussions with each of the startups on your behalf and organise one-to-one meetings with them. We’ll offer you coaching so that the barrier for cross-border partnerships is minimised. We will also liaise to arrange follow-ups with the corporate and the startups for go/no-go decisions.