David Christen

FUTURE THROUGH INNOVATION Gebert Rüf Stiftung was established in 1998 by entrepreneur Heinrich Gebert as a science and innovation foundation. As a private funding agency guided by its mission statement «making science effective», it supports entrepreneurial projects which are committed to achieving an impact. Innovative ideas – implemented in an entrepreneurial way - ensure an economically, ecologically and socially sustainable future. With an annual budget of up to CHF 15 million, it supports the breakthrough of new technologies, but also to lay the foundations for an entrepreneurial mindset and a broad interest in innovation by funding educational and transfer projects. «Science & Entrepreneurship» is at the core of GRS’s mission. Since 1998, it has been promoting the entrepreneurial implementation of research and innovation in Switzerland with its «Science Entrepreneurship» program. The «Kick Foundation» and «Kickfund» initiatives co-initiated by GRS bundle existing funding programs and combine funding and investment in a value chain. The profit-oriented Kickfund systematically invests in Venture Kick finalists and uses part of the return to generate the Kick Foundation pipeline.