We have a serious waste problem in Switzerland: Each year, we produce about 80 to 90 million tons of waste, each one of us produces around 716kg of waste per year, which makes us a country with one of the highest municipal solid waste volume worldwide.

To tackle this problem, Impact Hub Basel created the Zero Waste Innovation Lab – in collaboration with the FHNW and the Christoph Merian Foundation. The Lab uses an in-house zero waste café as a real-world laboratory where sustainable entrepreneurs (startups) can test their zero waste innovations. The experiences and learnings made in that process are recorded in an open source guide and made available to other companies.

Promising project setup opens doors for Innosuisse funding

Impact Hub Basel as an SME partnered up with the research organization FHNW, which made the whole project eligible for funding by the Swiss Innovation Agency Innosuisse: Impact Hub Basel brings in its entrepreneurial knowledge and market proximity and access, while the FHNW contributes its scientific knowledge and research infrastructure.

Last year, Innosuisse approved over 400 similar science-based innovation projects from all sectors and industries, conducted by industrial partners as well as private and public institutions jointly with a research partner. With this and other support offers by Innosuisse, Swiss companies get easy access to research centres’ knowledge, competences and resources in order to jointly develop innovative solutions for the market and strengthen their competitiveness.

Do you have a science-based innovation project and are you interested in getting support from the Swiss Innovation Agency Innosuisse? Learn more in the video below and find the right support offer for you through the Innosuisse Guide.