Boldness, agility, a willingness to challenge the status quo: the start-up mindset has much to offer established businesses. That is the message of the 26th edition of fribourg.swiss magazine, unveiled on September 23 at the Marly Innovation Center. Before an audience of around 50 guests, entrepreneurs, investors, and innovation experts explored what start-ups and established companies can learn from one another.

“Even if you are successful today, you need to ask yourself what success will look like tomorrow. It may be very different.” With this warning, innovation expert Marc Pauchard set the tone for a morning dedicated to the Startup Mindset, a way of thinking that extends well beyond the world of young companies.

“Whether they are SMEs or large international corporations, all businesses can and should draw inspiration from the start-up mindset,” added Jerry Krattiger, Managing Director of the Fribourg Development Agency (FDA). This year, four companies from the canton have earned a place among Switzerland’s top 100 start-ups.

An Innovation Ecosystem on the Move

The Marly Innovation Center (MIC) provided a fitting backdrop for the launch. Once home to Ilford’s industrial operations, the site now hosts more than 200 companies and 1,000 jobs. Mathieu Piller, the center’s Director of Development, traced this transformation and highlighted a persistent challenge: “The greatest danger for a start-up is not so much its technology, but securing the funding needed to bring it to market.”

To help these companies navigate the different stages of growth, Fribourg can draw on a support network that has expanded steadily over the years. It includes Fri Up, the Fribourg Development Agency, higher education institutions, and financing programs such as Seed Capital and Capital Risque Fribourg. State Councillor Olivier Curty also emphasized how the canton’s innovation districts complement one another and contribute to its appeal. His definition of the Startup Mindset came down to four words: “Energy, originality, disruption, innovation.”

“There has been a genuine determination among all the players in the ecosystem to move forward and make better use of the canton’s potential,” recalled Yann Steulet, Director of Fri Up. Brigitte Baumann, a business angel with extensive experience in international innovation ecosystems, placed this momentum in a broader context: “Fribourg has the advantage of being able to observe what is happening elsewhere in the world, take the best ideas, and develop its own approach.”

Innovation Meets Reality

Sarah Cattin, co-founder of Xemperia, knows these challenges firsthand. Born out of research at the University of Fribourg, her start-up is developing a breast cancer screening method based on a blood test. But turning this discovery into a marketable product requires considerable time and resources. “We need several million to conduct a clinical study that will take several years. Those figures and timelines can be a little daunting,” she explained. Such prospects can discourage investors, particularly when the company has yet to generate revenue.

Ciril Stebler shared a different story: that of Velocorner, a bicycle sales platform based in Murten and majority-owned by the TCS since 2023. “A start-up can accomplish much more with fewer resources. Combining that speed with the reputation of a large organization is a real strength,” explained its co-founder.

But agility alone is no guarantee of success. Marc Pauchard drove this point home by revisiting the history of Ilford, a company whose evolution he had witnessed firsthand. Ilford had anticipated the rise of digital photography, but not its consequences. Contrary to expectations, consumers did not print more photos. Instead, they chose to view them on screens. This miscalculation illustrates a crucial lesson: innovation is not enough. Companies must also understand how consumer behavior is changing.

Complementary Strengths

“The danger would be resting on our laurels. Even when everything is going well, we must continue to challenge ourselves.” For Noam Rey, Head of the Fribourg–Neuchâtel Market Area at Bank CIC (Switzerland), a new partner of fribourg.swiss, this imperative also applies to Fribourg’s economy, whose diversity and resilience he praised.

The discussions moderated by Pierre Jenny also highlighted the benefits of bringing young companies and established businesses closer together. “The goal is not to favor a single model, but to bring together different players whose strengths complement and reinforce one another,” Jerry Krattiger summarized.

Beyond collaboration, an entrepreneurial culture can also be passed from one company to another. Ultimately, perhaps that is what the Startup Mindset is all about: keeping the entrepreneurial spirit alive, even when a company is no longer a start-up.