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The first of these start-ups are already very successful. Three of them – all spin-offs from ETH Zurich – appeared on stage at the event: ANYbotics has developed a four-legged inspection robot, Planted produces eco-friendly, protein-rich foods from peas, and Verity is focused on drones that autonomously record the inventory of large warehouses. The three companies are internationally successful in their markets, employing more than 150 people each and continuing to grow strongly.

UBS’s partnership with ETH Zurich aims to increase the number of such success stories and thereby strengthen Switzerland’s capacity for innovation. To this end, two players who already play an important role in highly innovative start-ups have joined forces. ETH has produced over 500 spin-offs – 43 of them in the last year alone. As Switzerland’s largest bank, UBS supports start-ups not only with international and often complex banking services, but also with know-how, access to a top-class global network and, last but not least, contact with private investors.

A central element of the Deeptech Investor Summit was the networking of selected ETH spin-offs with high-level, active venture capitalists, which included specialized funds as well as family offices and experienced private investors. In addition, the selected deeptech start-ups were able to present themselves by means of booths, short presentations, pitching sessions and pre-arranged meetings. 

The program also included panel discussions and presentations by renowned experts such as UBS Chief Economist Paul Donovan, as well as Thomas Zurbuchen, the former head of research at NASA who now heads up the ETH Space initiative at ETH. A number of insights were presented that are important not only for start-ups, but for all companies working on radical innovations. In addition to tips, the speakers also gave their assessments of the future.

Two general pieces of advice for start-ups emerged from the many presentations and sessions at the Deeptech Investor Summit:

1. When developing new technologies, you should not commit too quickly to a concrete business case. The most successful companies pursue multiple areas of application when developing their innovations and only gradually select the most lucrative ones.
2. Competition is not a bad thing. On the contrary – competitors make it easier to build a new market. After all, the presence of competitors speaks in favor of choosing a particular field of business.

The importance of deeptech for global development was underlined by several speakers. In particular, ecological challenges cannot be mastered without deeptech. This gives a great deal of urgency to the development and promotion of breakthrough innovations.

ETH and UBS will therefore continue to jointly promote deeptech start-ups and the summit will be held annually as a flagship event. The aim is to build up a community whose members can also exchange ideas during the year. The app, which was developed especially for the event, will therefore continue to exist and will enable entrepreneurs and investors to contact each other.