La vie d’une entreprise est faite de nombreux défis auxquels il faut souvent répondre simultanément. Les prestations de coaching Alliance et platinn ont pour mission d’aider les entreprises de Suisse occidentale à les relever. Démonstration avec Cortexia qui a été accompagnée par les deux entités entre 2018 et 2023.
To support companies in Western Switzerland in their various growth phases, measures are put in place by the cantons as part of their economic promotion efforts, and also jointly with the Swiss Confederation through the Regional Innovation System of Western Switzerland(RIS-SO). These include the Alliance and platinn coaching services.
Both organizations support companies in their innovation challenges. While Alliance specializes in technological innovation, platinn focuses on business innovation. Cortexia, for example, is one of the companies in the French-speaking part of Switzerland to benefit from this complementary approach.
Cortexia's promise to take control of urban cleanliness
Since 2016, the Châtel-St-Denis-based company has been designing solutions that enable cities to measure urban cleanliness accurately and objectively. Thanks to hardware installed on the utility vehicles that criss-cross the city (sweepers, garbage trucks, etc.), the company collects data that is analyzed using AI and made available to road services via a web platform. This mapping enables machines and personnel to be assigned where they are needed, resulting in a more efficient allocation of resources and a reduction in environmental impact.
Developing your technology with the support of Alliance
Start-up Cortexia has benefited from Alliance support for Innosuisse projects on several occasions, with the aim of improving its solution through technological innovation. One of these projects was aimed at optimizing resources through AI. Once the data had been collected, it was necessary to automate the analysis process so that the sweepers' routes could be predicted, thereby optimizing the routes of the entire fleet of vehicles, knowing which streets or neighborhoods would be dirty at which times.
Andréas von Kaenel, co-founder of Cortexia, is a former Alliance consultant, so he immediately thought of contacting the coaching platform. Robert Van Kommer, an innovation advisor in the ICT sector, helped him set up the project with a view to obtaining Innosuisse funding.
La première étape clé a consisté à identifier les bons partenaires académiques. En effet, si Cortexia voulait collaborer avec le laboratoire de traitement des signaux LTS5 de l’EPFL pour la partie prédictive, ils ne savaient pas vers qui se tourner pour l’optimisation de la flotte. Robert Van Kommer leur propose de travailler avec Sacha Varone de la HEG, puis les aide à structurer la demande Innosuisse. Et son soutien va plus loin : « Robert réfléchit tout de suite aux questions fondamentales de propriété industrielle et de brevets, explique Andréas von Kaenel, il a un apport très compétent dans ce domaine. »
Faire appel à Alliance a ainsi permis à Cortexia de bien dimensionner le développement technologique du projet. « Pour une start-up, c’est vital d’être accompagné dès le début d’un projet d’innovation, pour sa mise en place. C’est une vraie valeur, explique Andréas von Kaenel. En Suisse, nous avons la chance d’avoir des écoles capables de collaborer avec les entreprises et de comprendre les enjeux industriels. Et nous avons des organismes qui mettent les partenaires en relation, qui permettent de trouver les bonnes compétences pour chaque projet. Les entreprises qui passent par Alliance ont ainsi beaucoup plus de chance d’obtenir un financement Innosuisse. »
Within the management team, we had no experience of financing start-ups. Without platinn's support, it would have been very difficult for us. Marie-Laure Berthié helped us put together the right documentation for our potential investors. She bridged the gap between our two worlds and helped us define responsibilities so that everyone's objectives were met. We appreciate her proactivity. She anticipates potential difficulties. She ensures that negotiations with investors progress in parallel, so that each relationship reaches a coordinated conclusion.
Raising funds with platinn's support
After receiving support on cooperation, business and organizational aspects in its early years, the company benefited from platinn coaching by Marie-Laure Berthié on the financial side.
Like all start-ups, Cortexia has gone through several development phases, each of which required funding. Initially self-financed, the company needed external funding when it came to industrializing its solution. This was made possible thanks to business angels. A new phase is now underway to support international deployment and the technological development of the platform for new applications.
During these two phases, Cortexia's management was supported by Marie-Laure Berthié at various stages: putting together the dossier, monitoring relations with investors and managing the timing to reach a timely conclusion.
Future projects and developments
Aujourd’hui, Cortexia est active non seulement en Suisse, dans des villes comme Bâle ou Genève, mais aussi en France et en Allemagne. L’entreprise se tourne maintenant vers le marché du Benelux, tout en continuant son développement technologique avec un nouvel axe d’innovation orienté sur l’amélioration de la qualité des biodéchets ménagers collectés. Pour ce nouveau développement, Cortexia a obtenu le Swiss Accelerator 2023.
When you're creating or working in a start-up, you're in a vehicle that's going at full speed, and you've got to hit the ground running. You can't afford to lose time. And you can quickly lose yourself, because there are so many demands on your time. The most important thing is to be able to concentrate on the key stages for the company, i.e. product development and financing. The Alliance and platinn coaching programs enable you to concentrate on these fundamental stages.
Cortexia at a glance
Fondation: 2016
Siège social: Châtel-Saint-Denis
Équipe: 14 collaborateur∙ices au 31 mai 2023
Produits: Plateforme pour mesurer la propreté d’un territoire
Innovation: Détection de déchets grâce à un système de caméras fixées sur les véhicules de la voirie
Coaching platinn: coaching finance de 2021 à 2023
Coaching Alliance: dépôt de 3 projets Innosuisse et gagnant du Swiss Accelerator en 2023
Contact: www.cortexia.ch
Alliance and platinn
> Get support from platinn: contact your local platinn office
> Contact Alliance for support
Camille Pousin, Alliance, et Aline Mettan, platinn, le 31.05.2023.