A label for Swiss innovations

Hugues Jeannerat, researcher and lecturer at the University of Neuchâtel, favours an innovation policy that includes all actors in society. swissinfo.ch

In their INNO-Futures proposal, researchers Tina Haisch and Hugues Jeannerat called for the creation of a new brand to join the famous ‘Swiss Made’ label in reinforcing Switzerland’s reputation as a champion of innovation and creativity.

“Everyone agrees that the capacity for innovation is more important than the capacity for production in a small industrialised country like Switzerland. Since we have an advantage in this domain, why not make it a brand?” Jeannerat tells swissinfo.ch.

The label ‘Swiss Innovated’ label, as imagined by Haisch and Jeannerat. swissinfo.ch

While the ‘Swiss Made’ label is placed mainly on products destined for export, the ‘Swiss Innovated’ label would be intended not just for businesses, but all societal actors and state agencies that generate innovative solutions for economic, social, and environmentally sustainable development.

“The Swiss Innovated label would not be applied to products, but to the way complex solutions are realised and valorised collectively,” says Jeannerat.

He cites the example of coloured solar panels that can be integrated into the urban landscape or installed to blend into the natural environment. This invention, developed by the Swiss Center for Electronics and MicrotechnologyExternal link in Neuchâtel, received the Swiss Environment PrizeExternal link in 2016 [link in French].

“It could be that in two years, other countries like China will appropriate this technology,” Jeannerat says. “Switzerland would then struggle to compete in the large-scale production of these solar panels. However, the way that different actors – architects, heritage protection specialists, urban planners, etc. – work to integrate these panels into the urban landscape is unique. It’s a ‘Swiss Innovated’ solution based on the knowledge of multiple actors that can then be valorised in other domains or regions of the world.”

Translated from French by Celia Luterbacher