World's innovation platform Plug and Play launches in Basel, Switzerland

The largest innovation enabler in the world, Plug and Play, announced the launch of a new office in Basel, Switzerland, in partnership with the first Founding Partner, uptownBasel. Plug and Play Basel will be situated in the uptownBasel Competence Center in Arlesheim. The launch event, which will mark the start of the first program batch, is planned for March 2022. 

Basel has a long-standing industrial tradition and is a leading European center for research and development in diverse cluster topics including pharmaceuticals and medical technology, logistics and transportation, and specifically Industry 4.0. Plug and Play, headquartered in Sunnyvale, 50 miles outside San Francisco, is located in vibrant Silicon Valley and has more than 35 satellite offices worldwide.

With Plug and Play's expansion in Switzerland now underway, the company offers all partners the opportunity to increase their innovation activities through access to a global network of more than 40,000 startups. With the know-how and years of experience that Plug and Play has acquired through the operation of more than 60 startup accelerators around the world, interested companies can increase their innovation potential and, above all, significantly shorten their time to market strategy. 

The purpose of the program is to boost Basel's industrial innovation capabilities and counteract the de-industrialisation of Switzerland, by attracting first-class tech startups to the area. The goal is to create a stronger, unified ecosystem and foster collaboration and knowledge sharing between large industrial companies and exceptional technology startups to deliver real value and solutions. Initial technology areas for scouting will include Industry 4.0, Internet of Things, Robotics, Data Analytics, Artificial Intelligence, Life Sciences, Sensors, Future Logistics and Warehousing, and more. By providing innovation-as-a-service, this platform will also play a strategic role for the partners in pioneering a sustainable industry of the future throughout Switzerland, Europe, and around the world.

Hans-Jörg Fankhauser, site developer, architect and implementer of the uptownBasel project said, "Together with Plug and Play, uptownBasel will create a leading open innovation platform in Europe. Plug and Play Basel will use innovation as a lever to solve big challenges of our time with technologies like Industry 4.0, IoT, smart manufacturing, future logistics, and robotics. Together, we will not only deliver profits to our corporate partners and startups, but also create new jobs, boost the region's productivity, and build a long-term growing tech ecosystem."

Daniela Bar-Gera, Head of Plug and Play Basel: "Basel is the perfect fit to be another European Hub for innovation: Its location in the Three-Country-Triangle (Switzerland, Germany, France), its industrial tradition and expertise as well as outstanding academics such as the University of Basel, the FHNW, and the various world-renowned institutes, such as the FMI (Friedrich Miescher Institute) provide the ideal foundation to be the leading open innovation platform. The opportunities to collaborate with world-leading businesses, as well as finding smart investments in a stable economy will be strong motivators for top-notch tech startups to come to Basel. Switzerland as a country has led the "Global Innovation Index" for 11 years now. Keeping the lead requires investing extensively in future solutions, focusing on digital transformation, and making innovation the country's top priority. Similarly, to ensure their future competitiveness, Swiss corporations need to consistently be exposed to new technologies and ideas. Some of our most successful partners use Plug and Play to look at new business opportunities and meet with startups and companies from different industries. That is one of the strongest ways to take advantage of open innovation, ensuring you are always seeing and hearing new innovative ideas." 

The basis of Plug and Play Basel will be a 3-month open innovation program that will run twice a year. Each program welcomes selected national and international startups that are addressing the specific technological needs of the Founding Partners. The startups and business units of the partners will work together on pilots and proof of concepts, leading towards production-ready implementations. The goal is to have at least one joint project completed for each startup, to be showcased at EXPO Day, the final event at the end of each program. 

Plug and Play Basel will run local operations from the uptownBasel Campus where it will provide co-working spaces for the startups to utilize and scale their business. Further offerings for startups, partners, and the growing ecosystem include dealflows, workshops, mentorship sessions, networking between partners, investment opportunities, and a series of monthly events including Selection Days, Innovation Days, and EXPO Days. 

www.plugandplaytechcenter.com
www.uptownbasel.ch