5 July 2017. The promotion of entrepreneurship is one of the central topics in research and teaching at the University of St.Gallen. Entrepreneurs, their enterprises and the jobs that they create are essential for the continued economic development of both the region and Switzerland as a whole. The University of St.Gallen pools many of its promotion services for potential founders of firms in the Startup Lab (Startup@HSG) of its Center for Entrepreneurship (CfE-HSG).
Active for a minimum of twelve months
People who have successfully founded a company or have been active with a concrete start-up project for at least twelve months can apply for the spin-off label of the University of St.Gallen at the CfE-HSG. Among other things, the award of the label is contingent on at least one of the founders studying, doing research or working at the University of St.Gallen.
Better overview of the spin-offs
With its new spin-off label, the HSG wants to support the start-ups and firms that are already established in their external impact, on the one hand. On the other hand, firms which have satisfied the criteria for the seal of approval, are granted access to all the support services of the Center of Entrepreneurship. This includes office premises for start-ups, coaching and mentoring services or participation in workshops and networking events. "With the award of the new spin-off label, we hope to get a better overview of the entrepreneurial value creation by the University in the region and in Switzerland," says Prof. Dr. Kuno Schedler, Vice-President for Research at the University of St.Gallen (HSG).
Online list of companies
With the launch of the new label, the Center for Entrepreneurship has also posted a list that shows the HSG spin-offs of recent years and thus provides an insight into the entrepreneurial potential that emerges from the University of St.Gallen. This first list, which is not exhaustive, contains 99 companies that were (co)founded by HSG members or graduates of the University of St.Gallen and which have successfully held their ground in the market.
Prof. Dr. Dietmar Grichnik, Co-Director of the Center for Entrepreneurship: "With our first 99 spin-offs, we’re setting off into an exciting entrepreneurial future which we will map with an HSG spin-off barometer every year."
Started from scratch, now established in the business
Some companies which have become established by now started from scratch as spin-offs of the unsig, among them the IT consultancy firms Abacus (1985) and Namics (1995). Today, Abacus employes 340 staff and Namics 500. More recent start-ups include the logbook writer Vimcar (2013). Samy Liechti for his part devoted his entrepreneurial initiative to practical everyday things and founded the sock delivery service Blacksocks in 1999; the company now supplies customers in 104 countries. In 2009, HSG graduate Andy Schwarzenbach and two other fledgling entrepreneurs set up the gastro chain "Hitzberger – Fastfood natürlich" with top chef Eduard Hitzberger and recently sold it to his preferred partner, Migros.