Venturing Ecosystems
IMD’s mission is to challenge what is and inspire what could be, and to develop leaders who transform organizations and contribute to society. This requires an entrepreneurial mindset: a willingness to try something new.
We have created and orchestrated an ecosystem of innovation by fostering this entrepreneurial mindset through our programs and outreach. Since 1998, IMD EMBAs and MBAs have collaborated with over 500 Swiss startups and helped strengthen the entrepreneurial ecosystem.
We work with startups, scale-ups, and other high-growth, high-impact initiatives to help them direct leadership, create a strategy, build in customer-centricity, and construct a resilient organization that delivers to its customers, employees, and shareholders.
20
startups collaborated with MBA class
17
startups collaborated with three EMBA classes
1st
Venture Award to MBA entrepreneur
40
of the top 100 Swiss startups worked with IMD
8
Swiss startups collaborated with custom program participants
3
Swiss startups pitched to custom program client
An opportunity to work with our EMBAs and MBAs
Each year at IMD we run a startup competition offering Swiss-based early-stage companies the opportunity to work with our MBA and EMBA participants. They receive support in formalizing their business models, strategies, and financing plans as well as an IMD Startup Scholarship worth 5,000 CHF.
Following the 24th competition in 2022, the MBA class worked with 20 startups, and the three cohorts of the EMBA collaborated with 17 Swiss startups. Their activities span areas such as medical and health, technology, insurance, food delivery, and energy companies. The 17 EMBA startups were also given the opportunity to accompany the EMBA classes to Silicon Valley in September and November 2022.
The 2022 ranking of Switzerland’s Top 100 startups features 40 who have benefitted from the support and expertise of IMD’s MBA or EMBA alumni.
“The winners were picked to provide the greatest possible learning experiences for our participants to discover entrepreneurship from the inside. Ten of the projects selected for 2022 were championed by women, and seven of them have female CEOs, a proportion rarely attained in the past.”
Benoît Leleux, IMD’s Stephan Schmidheiny Professor of Entrepreneurship and Finance.
The Inaugural IMD MBA Venture Award
The first IMD MBA Venture Award was made possible by Thierry Maupilé (MBA 1988) to support entrepreneurs of the future.
“As an MBA alumnus, I am very fortunate to contribute to the ongoing success of the MBA program. Entrepreneurship leadership development is an increasingly important component of a world-class MBA. So, each year, the Venture Award will help an MBA candidate to implement his or her idea and vision of innovation and disruption.”
Thierry Maupilé, MBA 1988 and Executive in Residence at IMD
Nine projects were submitted by members of the 2022 MBA Class who made their pitch for the 100,000 Swiss franc award as well as mentorship from Thierry Maupilé, and professors Jim Pulcrano, and Benoît Leleux.
Three were chosen to make their final pitches during the MBA Silicon Valley Discovery Expedition in September before the winner was announced. Brandon Taft (2022 MBA) was presented with the Venture Award for his digital health venture InStep, which aims to transform consumers’ movement data into personalized health analytics.
“I am extremely proud to have stood alongside all my classmates who participated in the competition. Our team at InStep is excited for the year ahead!”
Brandon Taft, MBA 2022 and Co-Founder, InStep
IMD and Innovaud: new scale-up program
A joint initiative of IMD and Innovaud, the LeadiNNg to Scale-Up program is designed to propel Vaud-based tech companies from promising startups to fast-growing, international scale-ups. Fourteen companies joined the first cohort of the LeadiNNg to Scale-Up program, which kicked off in January 2022.
The program, which covers the three main pillars of leadership, organizational design and strategic scaling, ran for 10 sessions over six months and already has 12 companies from Vaud, Zürich, Geneva and Fribourg registered for 2023.
“Combining IMD’s and Innovaud’s long expertise in supporting entrepreneurs makes this program unique in Switzerland. It is a real differentiator for the canton of Vaud.”
Anne-France Borgeaud Pierazzi, Head of Public Affairs at IMD.