After the revised Federal Act on the Promotion of Research and Innovation (RIPA) entered into force in 2023, Innosuisse continued to implement the new framework conditions for innovation promotion in 2024 while optimising its funding instruments and processes. This revision incorporated the amendments adopted by Parliament, in particular relating to the introduction of direct support for start-ups prior to market entry and for companies participating in international high-potential projects.

The focus of Innosuisse’s funding, however, remains on innovation projects between research and implementation partners. Among other things, these projects enable companies – especially small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) – to develop their innovations so they can sharpen their competitive edge, overcome the challenges of digital transformation and meet sustainability requirements. A recently published study by the Swiss Economic Institute KOF confirmed the added value of this central support offer from Innosuisse. The results are impressive: five years after completing an innovation project, supported companies generate an average of 21% more revenue and employ 18% more people than comparable companies that were not supported by Innosuisse. This shows that Innosuisse funding accelerates the growth and performance of Swiss SMEs and start-ups.

Given the consistently strong demand and high standard of applications received, Innosuisse paid out 346 million Swiss francs in funding in 2024 (previous year: 356 million Swiss francs). This led to a planned loss of 15.3 million Swiss francs in the income statement, with free reserves reduced to 12.7 million Swiss francs as expected. As regards new funding, Innosuisse approved a total of 341 million Swiss francs in the year under review (previous year: 492 million Swiss francs). The decrease of 151 million Swiss francs compared to the exceptional 2023 figure is mainly due to the fact that no new contributions were approved for the Flagship Initiative or Innovation Booster last year. In addition, in 2024 the available budget of 65 million Swiss francs for new Swiss Accelerator projects from the 2023 call for projects was lower than in the previous year. Innosuisse also did not launch a new call for projects for the Swiss Accelerator in the year under review.

In a multi-year comparison, however, the total amount of funding awarded in 2024 was still high. Thanks to ongoing funding for Swiss Accelerator projects as well as for national and international projects, Innosuisse has been able to help cushion the disadvantage that SMEs and start-ups have suffered as a result of Switzerland’s non-association with the EU's framework programme for research and innovation, Horizon Europe.

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In the area of national and international cooperation, Innosuisse consolidated its partnerships and expanded its collaborations. A project was started with the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF) to optimise governance, streamline the way the secretariat is organised and improve the “Discovery” component of the BRIDGE programme. This will significantly enhance cooperation between the two institutions. Now that the project is complete, this has created a solid basis for deepening collaboration and making further improvements to this joint funding instrument of Innosuisse and the SNSF.

At the international level, the Swiss presidency of Taftie, which was taken over by Innosuisse in 2024, was warmly received by members. It has made a significant contribution to strengthening relations with European innovation agencies. In anticipation of Switzerland taking over as chair of the Eureka network in 2025/2026, Innosuisse began actively participating in the organisational activities of Eureka in 2024 so that it could be fully operational and assume responsibility starting in June 2025.

Last year marked the end of the four-year period 2021–2024. This was an extremely dynamic phase – and Innosuisse demonstrated its agility to deal with the many challenges. It launched an impulse programme to mitigate the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic. In addition, it quickly set up the Swiss Accelerator to offer Swiss SMEs and start-ups an alternative to the EU’s Horizon Europe programme, from which they were excluded. The Swiss Innovation Agency also optimised its funding instruments as a result of the revision of RIPA. Based on its values of integrity, openness and drive, Innosuisse continued to improve its processes and support offers and trained the members of its bodies and staff to drive innovation even more efficiently and effectively. This has enabled it to take into account the growing demands, rising expectations and increasing complexity of the ecosystem.

In view of the increasing international competition for innovation, the planned funding cuts in the area of education, research and innovation (ERI) in general – and for Innosuisse in particular – are likely to pose challenges in the next funding period. However, the funding portfolio in place since 2023 and strong strategic positioning allow Innosuisse to align its funding so it can maximise the impact and added value of innovation according to prevailing circumstances and market needs.