Through the Founder Calls, the Innovation Program supports market, social or cultural entrepreneurial projects in the context of digital transformation. The Founder Call contributes to the creation of spin-offs and start-ups in the for-profit and non-for-profit sectors by employees and students of the DIZH universities; importantly, the spin-off or start-up must not yet have been founded.
Due to its explicit focus on early-stage financing of a start-up idea, this type of call in the DIZH Innovation Program differs from other funding instruments for existing start-ups or spin-offs.
The basic idea of the Founder Call is to provide low-threshold and early-stage start-up financing to advance the start-up process. This is to be achieved by financing the step from the pure start-up idea to the proof of feasibility of the project idea in the sense of a “proof of concept”. The aim is to show that a conceptually developed project can also be implemented in practice. The successful implementation of this step should convince participants, partners and investors that pursuing the start-up idea is promising.
Eligibilty
- All university employees and students from all DIZH universities whose employment extends over the duration of the project are eligible to apply for the Founder Call
- If such employment does not exist, applicants must provide proof of a commitment to employment for the duration of the proposed project at an organizational unit of a DIZH university
- If practice partners are involved, they must be financially and person-ally independent of the university partners
Funding and duration
Projects for the 2nd Founder Call can apply for a maximum of CHF 75’000 in funds from the DIZH special loan and can run for a maximum of 12 months from the start of the project.
Application process
An application comprises a maximum of three pages including a link to an application video of no more than three minutes, which delivers the core idea of the start-up idea to be tested, introduces the key players and shows the desired (entrepreneurial) goals and structures.