Venturelab Hosts High-Level Delegates for Sino-Swiss Innovation Talks
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Venturelab was honored to welcome directors from China's Ministry of Industry and Information, as it hosted discussions on startup innovation and Sino-Swiss partnerships in Zurich.
January 21st, 2019. Ministerial delegates and executives from the country’s automobile, aviation and robotics and computing industries enjoyed presentations on the Swiss innovation ecosystem with Switzerland’s leading academic institutions. Venturelab, which has brought Swiss startups to China for the past five years, showcased deep tech startups operating in, and preparing to enter, that country.
Edmont Rao, Vice President of WTOIP; Zheng Hong, Director General Center for International Economic and Technological Cooperation (CIETC-MIIT); Jordi Montserrat, Venturelab co-managing partner; Zhao Yonghong, Director General, Department of International Cooperation, MIIT; Wang Ruihua, Deputy Director General, Department of Equipment Manufacturing, MIIT; and Li Guanyu, Deputy Director General, Department of Information and Software Service, MIIT (from left to right)
“We are honored to host distinguished guests, who share our passion for innovative science, and build relationships for future Sino-Swiss collaboration,” said Venturelab's co-managing partner Jordi Montserrat. Michaël Themans, Deputy of the Vice-President for Innovation at Ecole fédérale polytechnique de Lausanne; Jan Zimmermann, Industrial relation manager at ETH Zurich; and Hervé Bourlard, Director of the Idiap Research Institute, detailed their institutions' support for research-driven spin-offs.
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Zhao Yonghong, Director General, Department of International Cooperation, Ministry of Industry and Information, presents Venturelab co-managing partners Jordi Montserrat (left) and Beat Schillig (right) with a collection of stamps depicting the Silk Road.
Venture Leaders China
“Thanks to the long-term relationships developed through the Venture Leaders program, co-organized with Swissnex China and the Embassy of Switzerland in China, we’ve been able to give Swiss startups access to the Chinese market, investors and partners. We welcome the opportunity to reciprocate and introduce these Chinese investors to Switzerland's startup innovation ecosystem,” Montserrat said.
Zhao Yonghong, Director General, Department of International Cooperation, Ministry of Industry and Information, presents Venturelab co-managing partners Jordi Montserrat (left) and Beat Schillig (right) with a collection of stamps depicting the Silk Road.
Sensors, AI medicine & neuromorphic chips
Startups at different phases of growth presented: Zurich-based greenTEG AG, which already has an established distribution network China for its laser sensors. Chief executive Wulf Glatz participated in Venture Leaders China in 2014. "You have to have visited China to understand the scale and potential." Bern-based RetinAI Medical AG, which participated in Venture Leaders China last year, plans partnerships for its AI-eyecare scanners. "China's healthcare market is a greenfield, so hospitals can make efficiency-decisions, without the legacy of old infrastructure," chief executive Carlos Ciller said. Manu Nair, chief executive of ETH Zurich-based neuromorphic chip developer Synthara Technologies, highlighted China's importance for the sector, "China has all the companies that manufacture chips. We want to sell to these companies. It's a perfect fit."
Venture Leaders China
“Thanks to the long-term relationships developed through the Venture Leaders program, co-organized with Swissnex China and the Embassy of Switzerland in China, we’ve been able to give Swiss startups access to the Chinese market, investors and partners. We welcome the opportunity to reciprocate and introduce these Chinese investors to Switzerland's startup innovation ecosystem,” Montserrat said.
Last September’s Venture Leaders China took entrepreneurs on a ten-day business development roadshow across China, including the World Economic Forum's Annual Meeting of New Champions in Tianjin. The team’s ten entrepreneurs gained first-hand experience of the world’s second-biggest economy and won local investors. Basel-based cancer-drug developer Cellestia Biotech AG, whose chief science officer Rajwinder Lehal was among last year’s team, raised 20 million francs from investors in Beijing and Shanghai.
Venture Leaders China is supported by digitalswitzerland, EPF Lausanne, Gebert Rüf Stiftung, ETH Zurich, Canton Vaud, Canton Zurich, Swissnex China, WTOIP.
