EPFL Innovation Park (EIP) unveils its Board Matching Switzerland platform

The EPFL Innovation Park (EIP), in collaboration with Startup Campus, is launching a platform for startups, scale-ups and technology SMEs wishing to strengthen their board of directors or advisory board with highly experienced and accredited individuals. A first in Switzerland!

Because good governance isn't just for big companies!

Today's entrepreneurial ecosystem has matured, and many young technology companies see the need, in order to accelerate and sustain their growth, to equip themselves with a professional board of directors and a committee of high-level advisors. This has the advantage of making the company more attractive to investors, avoiding the typical pitfalls of growth, better managing crises, and ultimately significantly improving the company's performance.

Until now, however, it has been difficult for young companies to identify directors who not only understand the world of start-ups and scale-ups, but who are also familiar with the requirements, duties and obligations of directors. Knowing that a board of directors, to be effective, should have a certain degree of seniority, independence and diversity among its members, makes the search even more difficult.

Thus, back in 2015, EPFL Innovation Park and Startup Campus created the Board Academy program, which has trained some 500 leading-edge directors and advisors in Swiss governance and the director's profession in a context of young, high-potential technology companies or SMEs, often destined for rapid development. As Jean-Philippe Lallement, Director of the EPFL Innovation Park, explains, "The aim now is to facilitate targeted contact between these directors and advisors and the breeding ground of some 4,000 high-tech startups and scale-ups in Switzerland, in particular the spin-offs from EPFL and other research institutions that the EIP and Startup Campus support on a daily basis. We hope to accelerate the growth of many of them, thanks to the transfer of experience and improved governance that will reassure investors.

Based on a specially designed matching algorithm derived from the analysis of board performance matrices, the platform will offer companies free profiles of directors or advisors according to their development phase, growth prospects, current board composition and, in particular, the experience and skills available among the directors and advisors already in the company. Virginie Verdon, head of the Board Academy program, explains: "One of the goals is to optimize the diversity, seniority and independence of the board of directors. Three key components of board performance".

Officially launched on January 31, 2019, the Board Matching Switzerland platform already boasts around 50 members with proven profiles as directors and/or advisors. With the ambition of rapidly becoming the benchmark in Switzerland for entrepreneurs looking to flesh out their Boards of Directors and Advisory Boards, EIP and Startup Campus plan to expand the platform internationally in the coming years, always with a focus on high selectivity and quality.

Board Matching Switzerland platform: https: //boardmatching.ch