Patents play a central role in reducing the investment risk associated with clean technologies. They signal credibility and innovation potential to investors by demonstrating that a company owns unique and protectable technology. This is especially important in cleantech, a sector in which development cycles are long and capital intensive. A strong IP system also encourages long-term research and development and helps companies protect their market share and secure strategic partnerships in a highly competitive global landscape.

While ‘sustainable innovation’ is difficult to define, Switzerland clearly leads in innovation addressing sustainability challenges. Numerous international rankings confirm this, including its long-standing first place in WIPO’s Global Innovation Index. The cleantech ecosystem itself demonstrates strong dynamism: technologies developed by Swiss start-ups offer concrete solutions for implementing decarbonisation strategies. Today, around 50 cleantech start-ups are founded each year – twice as many as in 2017 and three times more than ten years ago.

Swiss companies excel at developing and commercialising complex, high-precision and high-quality solutions. Hence, Switzerland has many hidden champions, such as Studer Innotec, Membratec and Romag. Strong trends include the integration of microsystems and robotics with AI, especially in energy and environmental applications. Emerging areas over the past five years include storage, agritech, new materials and sustainable chemistry.

However, Swiss companies need to strengthen their industrialisation phase – an essential step before reaching mass markets and internationalisation. Commercialisation is still too slow, and stronger alignment among stakeholders, including the financial sector, would be beneficial. As a small country, Switzerland has the necessary agility, but this potential needs to be better leveraged.

In around 2010, about one cleantech start-up emerged per month; today, that figure is at least one per week. Investment volumes have grown from a few million Swiss francs to around 500 million annually, peaking at one billion in 2022. Technology maturity has also increased significantly – many companies now offer products that have reached the top technology readiness level (TRL9).

The support landscape has evolved as well. After a period with many public and private initiatives, the ecosystem has consolidated, and today three main actors remain: CleantechAlps for the domestic market, Switzerland Global Enterprise (S-GE) for the global market and swisscleantech for regulatory matters.

More than 600 ventures have emerged over the past 15 years. What has impressed me most is the passion, resilience and adaptability of founders navigating an ever-changing environment. Among the companies that stand out are plant-based pioneers such as Planted Foods and Fabas, agritech innovators like Ecorobotix and Insolight, and mobility disruptors such as Softcar, Mobyfly, H55 and Dufour Aerospace. In the decarbonisation field, Climeworks and Neustark are remarkable, while in materials Bcomp and CompPair illustrate how bio-based and repairable composites can reshape traditional industries.