Innovation as an im­por­tant driver

Innovation has been steadily gaining in im­por­tance for many years. In addition to the ongoing optimisation of existing resources, Swisscom is investing in disruptive innovations, thereby creating new markets and main­tain­ing its corporate value in the long term. Swisscom strives to anticipate strategic challenges, new growth areas and future customer needs early on and to formulate solutions that create added value and inspire people. To this end, it works closely with partners, universities, start-ups and es­tab­lished tech­nol­ogy com­pa­nies.

Swisscom Outposts in Silicon Valley and Shanghai conduct tech­nol­ogy scouting and transfers for Swisscom. Swisscom Ventures networks start-ups with Swisscom’s business units in order to stimulate innovation. In­vest­ments in over 65 new com­pa­nies since 2007 have already helped to create more than 1,000 jobs in Switzer­land and to further strengthen the Switzer­land as a business location. In the year under review, Swisscom Ventures made in­vest­ments in seven new com­pa­nies and ten follow-up in­vest­ments in existing holdings. Swisscom also launched the Digital Trans­for­ma­tion Fund in 2018. Swisscom StartUp supports start-ups and entrepreneurs in Switzer­land through consulting, discounts on IT and cloud services, expert know-how, coaching programmes, financing and community events. The Swisscom StartUp Challenge 2020 was dedicated to the topic of 5G. Start-ups or research teams were able to qualify for a partnership with Swisscom or financing through Swisscom Ventures and received mentoring from Swisscom, Venturelab, Ericsson and Qualcomm. Finally, the internal intrapreneurship programme Kickbox supports the internal innovation process by providing employees with tools, a clear process and resources for innovation projects. The programme is available to other corporate cus­tomers via getkickbox.com.