The Selnau Project: A hotspot for cross-industry acceleration in Zürich

By now, the rumours will have spread - no doubt. And we have the joy to let you as our community know, that we will bring an exciting project to life this year - and a truly collaborative one! Together with digitalswitzerland, ewz and Engagement Migros Impact Hub Zürich will be part of the project bringing innovation and inspiration to the Unterwerk Selnau space.

As you might know from your own experiences in the fast-paced startup and innovation world: things are never fix until they’re in the past. That’s why the plans and ideas we will present you now are only the status quo of today (March 29, 2017) - and some things might still change in the future. Nevertheless are we excited to share a first glimpse with you:

The Idea - collaborate or die!

Together with our collaborators, we want to turn the Unterwerk Selnau into a cross-sector and cross-industry space making the need to work together from our Co-Manifesto a reality. We will collaboratively create programs and events (like the Kickstart Accelerator) to bring innovation in large corporations to the next level and to bring startups (and their methods) and corporates closer together in one community. Inside this gorgeous and heritage-protected building, we are planning to have the following 3 different areas on the main floor plus some extra workshop and meeting rooms in the basement.

The Gastro Space - ensuring exchange for collaboration

Visitors of the Selnau space will be well taken care of in our own café in the entrance area of the building. We imagine the gastro space to be an inspirational (but not huge) venue to cowork, eat, collaborate and have a relaxed time over great food and drinks. And it will be a public space!

The Basecamp - enabling acceleration for the future

The middle area of the Selnau space will be built with old cargo containers, forming diversely sized meeting- and workshop rooms, where smaller and larger groups can accelerate their cross-industry projects with new methods and in an unique atmosphere.

The Event Space - inspiring innovation for everyone

In the third and final area of the space will hold space enough for roughly 200 people to enjoy inspiring events and programs (like Kickstart Accelerator). The space will ideally host a mix of smaller and larger communities, as well as innovative and cultural projects and events.

That much about the first drafts for the “Selnau project”, which we tested and discussed during a first ideation workshop on Friday March 24 inside of the space. Find some first impressions here.