Swiss Energy Entrepreneurs hit Silicon Valley

Forgo nuclear energy, increase the share of energy production from renewable sources, modernizing the grid, and reducing energy consumption per capita. These are some of Switzerland’s ambitious goals set in its energy strategy 2050. Ground-breaking innovations by energy startups will play an integral part in ensuring that we'll meet this goal. SAFT 2050 jointly developed by Impact Hub Zürich, Impact Hub Fellowship and swissnex San Francisco aims to accelerate Switzerland’s shift to a cleaner energy system by connecting Swiss energy entrepreneurs with one of the world's hotspots of innovation: the San Francisco Bay Area.

Silicon Valley, no entrepreneur stays untouched by those two words. Two words that stand for the next big thing, billion dollar exits, venture capitalist shark tanks, and some of the most well known unicorns such as Google, Facebook, Airbnb or Uber. It is quite a unique place. There is more venture capital in the San Francisco Bay Area in cleantech than in all the other states of the US combined. This is just one of many indicators illustrating why this area with a size of not even half of Switzerland is one of the world’s hotspots for energy and cleantech innovation. And obviously cleantech is only part of the picture.

Unprecedented density

The density of startups, VCs, accelerators, researchers, innovators and talent within this hub and startup-ecosystem is unprecedented. Add to this a very different attitude towards risk-taking and almost celebration of failure and you start to understand why a large percentage of the world’s highest evaluated tech businesses originated in and around San Francisco. But not everything that shines is made out of gold and whether the race for the next billion dollars is the right way forward to shape the future of business may be questioned.