Swiss Innovation FEST

FEST is a public diplomacy initiative in which consulates, embassies, government organizations and other members of the diplomatic community host a customized series of cross-stakeholder events in a city where they aim to highlight their country's innovations and cultivate international collaboration. The standard format is a roughly two-week program combining exhibitions in galleries, museums and pop-up spaces; workshops with universities, colleges and schools; community gatherings; cross-sector exchanges with corporations, non-profits and research institutions; and film screenings followed by panels. Programs are co-curated with arts and cultural organizations, science and technology institutions, universities, industry and startup networks, and social impact and grassroots groups. FEST is a subsidiary of ISM Creative.

The Canadian editions are hosted by the Consulate General of Switzerland in Vancouver, which handles bilateral relations for science, technology, innovation, education and cultural exchange between Switzerland and Canada. The inaugural Swiss Innovation FEST Vancouver ran in April 2022 and centred on the arts–science intersection, with an exhibition of Andri Pol's behind-the-scenes CERN photography at Science World, a STEAM symposium at Emily Carr University, a hybrid fireside chat between the heads of CERN and TRIUMF, a screening of The Sense of Beauty at The Cinematheque, and the Indivisible exhibition of Arts at CERN residency artists at the New Media Gallery.

The second Swiss Innovation FEST took place in Vancouver from March 26 to April 28, 2024, focused on Swiss and Western Canadian cleantech. Programming included an opening panel at Simon Fraser University, a Smart Cities session at the Wosk Centre, a virtual Startup Series (April 9 and 11), film screenings at VIFF, a virtual Decarbonization Dialogue, a seven-lecture Smart Cities lecture series delivered in Alberta and British Columbia by Dr. Vicente Carabias and Kristi Shalla, and the touring exhibition "Can Tech Save the World?" (SFU Harbour Centre April 2-15; University of Calgary EEEL October 9-23). The site also promotes Simon Fraser University's Invention to Innovation (i2I) program, which invited five ETH Zurich, EPFL and University of Zurich PhD students and post-doctoral fellows in cleantech, healthtech and bioscience to apply for a 2024/25 Cleantech Cohort run in partnership with Mitacs.

Business model

FEST operates as a subsidiary of ISM Creative and delivers its event format on behalf of diplomatic hosts, working with institutional partners, program partners, corporate sponsors, PR sponsors, community partners and guest investors; the website invites organizations interested in hosting a FEST to make contact.

Traction

The inaugural 2022 edition drew 250 visitors. The 2024 edition comprised roughly a dozen program elements across Vancouver and Calgary, including seven guest lectures, and involved partners such as Simon Fraser University, the University of Calgary, Switzerland Global Enterprise, ABB, Presence Switzerland, the Embassy of Switzerland in Canada, the State Secretariat for Education, Research and Innovation, Foraus/Swiss network partners, Volition and Mitacs. For the 2024 virtual Startup Series, a minimum of five startups were to be selected for the pitch workshop.

Latest developments

The 2024 cleantech edition ran March 26–April 28, 2024, with the "Can Tech Save the World?" exhibition subsequently shown at the University of Calgary's EEEL building from October 9-23, and applications open for the 2024/25 i2I Cleantech Cohort for Swiss doctoral and post-doctoral researchers at Simon Fraser University.