The STARTUPS.CH AWARD will give CHF 50,000 to the best Swiss business idea. This prize is sponsered in equal parts from STARTUPS.CH and its partners, PostFinance, AXA Winterthur, Swisscom and Sage.

For the third time, AXA Winterthus will be giving away the AXA Innovation Award with a prize sum of CHF 50,000. For the first time, however, we are pleased to be handing out the Axpo Energy Award, also with a prize sum of CHF 50,000, for a innovative business idea in the areas of energy production, energy technology , energy transmission, or electro-technic.

There are two prerequisites that entrepreneurs must fulfil with their business plans in order to be able to take part in the STARTUPS.CH AWARD, AXA Innovation Award and Axpo Energy Award: the business idea must not exceed an initial starting capital requirement of CHF 1,000,000, and the business has yet to be incorporated or registered.

First expert jury, then an audience vote

Entrepreneurs have until June 30, 2013, to submit their business plans in German, French, Italian or English at www.swiss-startups-awards.ch.

After submission, a panel of experts will review each one of the business plans and evaluate them. Following this a panel of prominent business people such as Andy Rihs (Phonak, BMC) will take a closer look at the business plans that make it through the initial review. The three business plans that receive the best ratings from the final professional panel will be put to an audience vote that will be online at  www.swiss-startups-awards.ch. The online voting begins on October 21 and lasts 7 days. For the end result, the jury votes counts for two thirds and the public vote for one third. The business ideas that don’t make it will recive runner-up prizes in the form of STARTUPS.CH gift certificates towards incorporating or starting a business through STARTUPS.CH.

More information to the Swiss Startups Awards can be found here.

Schedule Overview (German Only)

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Partial self-employment, what is that?

First of all, a classification must take place to gain self-employment benefits. Benefits depend on whether a activity is being carried out which at anytime can cease in order to pursue a gainful employment in a non-independent manner. In a capacity to mitigate loss, the insures individual is carrying out some sort of activity. The requirements for work that allows for unemployment benefits are the following:

• the work must be temporary
• the work must have limited hours
• the work must require no or very little (financial) investment

The goal here is not that the individual will be self-employed in the future, but rather that he or she continues to look for an job with an employer.
In the case of partial self-employment, at least one of the aforementioned prerequisites would be unfulfilled. This means that an individual would be considered part-time self- employed. Therefore, there would be no claim to any unemployment benefits. Consequently, during the time of partial self-employment there can be no expectation of government subsidy or relief through unemployment insurance.

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Decision for financial independence

Every, almost 40,000 Swiss people decide to try to become their own boss. Many fail within the first 5 years. Both those who make it past the fifth year have a good chance of being successful in the long-run. An independent business offers many advantage (being ones own boss, realization of a life dream, etc.) but also should not be underestimated in terms of the risks (long hours, high risk of the business not being around for a long time, etc.) involved in going down this path.

Choice of the appropriate entity type

An entrepreneur, who chooses to become independent, must think about what kind of legal entity is best suited for his or her undertaking. There is no right or wrong legal entity. However, it can be of significant advantage to inform oneself or be consulted.  Only then is it possible to differentiate well between the different types of entities  When you have gained enough knowledge, you will be able to compare the different entity types to one another and determine the advantages and disadvantages to your type of business. Enough time should be set aside in order to do this thoroughly, so that there is no need for any alteration shortly after starting the business.
The most popular choice these days is a Limited Liability Company(LLC), also know as a  Gesellschaft mit beschränkter Haftung (GmbH). This is most likely because when compares to a Public Limited Company, also know as a Aktiengesellschaft (AG), the minimum capital requirements are far lower and the fact that the LLC also limits personal liability.
The experts at STARTUPS.CH can give you a all-encompassing consultation and show you which kind of legal entitny may be most suited for your company.
An overview of the most important legal entity types  in Switzerland can be found on the STARTUPS.CH homepage, where one can also find content and information that can greatly reduce the difficulty of starting one’s own business.

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Registered office companies

The canton Lucerne offers excellent conditions for companies that have there registered offices located there. Companies fall into this category by meeting the requirements of being a capital company  partnership or foundation that operates managements and business activities within Switzerland. Furthermore, the company must incur more than 80% of it’s costs and make more than 80% of its income outside of Switzerland. Should these requirements be met, the company can profit from the light tax burden upon legal persons. You can look at the exact stipulations win the tax code of the canton of Lucerne. In the past 10 years, Lucerne has massively reduced its tax burden upon legal entities and is now ranked as one of the lowest taxing cantons in Switzerland.

Findea can support you

Findea AG has many years of expereicen in the fiducuiary services industry. Aside from classical fiduciary serives, they also offer support in starting a business, tax consulting, and registered office services. Thanks to the opening of their new location in Lucerne, Findea AG can now advise you and carry out any kind of desired services on location. Further information concerning the registered office and domicile services of Findea AG can be found on their homepage. Should you be interest, please do not hesitate to contact the branch manager, Silvie Griss, directly.

Findea AG
Hirschengraben 33
6003 Luzern

Tel.: +41 (0)41 267 09 10
luzern@findea.ch

We look forward to hearing from you!

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The number of new entries in the Swiss commercial register in Q1 2013 saw a solid gain of 0.4%, especially when considering the continuing uncertainty in the neighboring European states and the weakening of the Euro. In total there were 10,105 entries into the commercial register (Q1 2012: 10,060). As a result of seasonal fluctuations, compared with the previous quarter the number of entries sank by 2.9%.
The canton of Thurgau has seen gains. Not only does the canton have ample amounts of relatively cheap development-zoned land, “the authorities also guarantee businesses that create new jobs will receive favorable operational conditions”, explains Michele Blasucci, CEO of STARTUPS.CH. This is evident when one looks at the number new entries: In Q1 2013 the number rose an astonishing 26.2% to 308 entries when compared to Q1 2012. Lucerne, meanwhile  saw a fall of 10%, but this can be attributed to the unusually high numbers that were seen the previous year. Since the beginning of 2012, Lucerne has become the most tax efficient location for business in all of Switzerland and the influx of new businesses in 2012 reflected this new position.

In absolute term Zug still beats Lucerne

Zug continues to enjoy more commercial register entries in absolute terms than Lucerne does. In Q1 2013 there were 496 entries ( a minus of 7.5%), in Lucerne it was 389. This still reflects the fact that the ratio is 4:3 in Zug’s favor. In the more populous and financially stronger canton of Zurich, the uncontested best absolute performance was seen (16.9% of the national total). There were a total of 1,704 commercial register entries in Zurich in Q1 2013 (a minus of 0.4% over the previous year).
Though Graubünden may be the number one for tourism, it is last when it comes to entrepreneurship. This is reflected in the number of new entries (Q1 2013: -4.5% to 210 entries). In Ticino, due to the uncertain political situation in neighboring Italy, the Monti Effect has lost its sway. The former Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti pushed many Italian into business due to his tougher tax stance. In Q1 2013, Ticino accordingly showed modest growth with 2.4% totaling 773 new entries.

489 new entries through STARTUPS.CH in Q1 2013

In the first quarter of 2013 STARTUP.CH launched 498 new companies. Based on the data collected by STARTUPS.CH it can be seen that the most new entries will continue to be in the legal form of a sole proprietorship or a limited liability company (33.8% and 36.2% respectively). Public limited companies represented 20.8%. “Sole proprietorship are advantageous to young entrepreneurs, because they can use this form as a tool to integrate social security into their business structure”, explains Blasucci.
He further estimates that 30 to 40% of young entrepreneurs give up on theri musiness after a maximum of 5 years in operation. “This by no means tells us that all these companies went into bankruptcies, rather, the company is put into ‘stasis’, bu remains entered into the commercial register. Additionally: in the German speaking are of Switzerland  the “survival rate” is higher than in the French and Italian speaking parts. Notably men also go bankrupt more often than women in these cases. Women are more careful, including when it comes to calculations, says Blasucci.
The Current year will most likely see a restrained development. “The problems that our neighbors have encountered will cause us to experience less people wanting to take the risk of starting their own business in the coming months.”, he explains.

The chart below shows the absolute change in the number of commercial register entries in the left column and the relative change in comparison to the same time in the previous year in the right column for each canton with the national total listed at the bottom.

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After less companies had been entered into the commercial register in February as compared to the same month the year prior, the numbers in March now show a continuation of this trend. In March 2012, there were 3,413 new entries across Switzerland, but this year there were only 3,374. This is an absolute loss of 39 entries which represents a drop of 1.1%. Again it is necessary to mention, just as it was with February, that March 2013 was one work day shorter than the same month one year ago. If one averages the days and adds the additional workday, then the numbers for March would have exceeded those from the previous year. Therefore, even though there is a minimal reduction in the number of new commercial register entries  this can be interpreted positively.

Looking at the cantonal and language regional perspective, the following numbers are of particular interest. In comparing the numbers from March 2013 to those of the March of the year prior, the German speaking region of Switzerland can boast a slight increase in commercial register entries (15 more, an increase of 0.7%), while the other language regions saw a decrease (the Romandie: 32 less, a decrease of 3.2% / Ticino: 22 less, a decrease of 8.3%). A substantial contribution to the negative national numbers were the cantons Vallais (39 less at -22.7%), Zurich (27 less at -4.7%), suprisingly Lucerne (27 less at -18.2%), St. Gallen (23 less at -10.9%), and Ticino (22 less at -8.3%). The effects of this were minimized mainly be the new commercial register entries in the cantons Zug (25 more at +16.1%) and Berne (23 more at +9.1%).

*Cantons with fewer entries in absolute terms can see a much larger percentage change in their numbers.

The chart below shows the absolute change in the number of commercial register entries in the left column and the relative change in comparison to the same time in the previous year in the right column for each canton with the national total listed at the bottom.

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LanzateSolo.cl is online

LanzateSolo.cl is the Chilean branch of  STARTUPS.CH and is specialized in the field of new business starts in Chile. To that end, the company uses the proven technology created by STARTUPS.CH in order to carry-out business starts quickly and in an uncomplicated manner.

Visit the innovative business launch platform of LanzateSolo.cl on their website and check out their Facebook page!

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The district attorney for Zug has decided not to investigate the criminal compliant of STARTUPS.CH against startplace.ch any further. Since startplace has in the meantime partially altered its site design and content, the proxies of STARTUPS.CH have decided not to pursue the matter any further. We would like to take this opportunity to just emphasis once more that STARTUPS.CH has nothing to do with www.startplace.ch.

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Since quite some time now customers in restaurants and stores most commonly pay with their credit card. With a constant rise in the purchase of wares and services online, the use of credit cards in these e-commerce transactions has also been continually increasing. A somewhat newer phenomenon that has been observed is the “no contact payment”. This payment occurs without the physical placement of the card in a card reader  but rather through a short wave of the card across a reader. When dealing with larger sums of money it is to be expected that one has to enter a PIN code or one has to give a signature. However, amounts under CHF 40.- require neither a Pin code, nor a signature. In such cases the payment process takes just a few seconds.

There are already more than a million of these no contact credit cards in circulation in Switzerland and can by identified by them carrying some of the following symbols:

The Aduno Group has embraced this new evolution in technology by on the one hand providing as a standard no contact compliant payment terminals and on the other hand by offering no contact capable credit cards since a number of years. The Aduno Group is convinced that this technology will only grow more popular among both the seller and the buyer given the convenience of the process. The annoying search for the correct change at the register will be a thing of the past. Also larger distributors have recognized the advantage and will be adapting there sales terminals this year.

A broad net of no contact compliant payment terminals also represents the foundation for the next step in the payment industry: payment via smartphone. Several market participant are currently working day and night to create a viable payment method via smartphone. Initial tests have been positive and now it is simply a question of time before your average Swiss consumer can pay for his or her groceries via mobile phone.

Further information about this topic can be found at www.aduno-gruppe.ch.

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Slight rise in consumer prices

The consumer price index saw a slight rise in the month of February. The indicator showed an increase of 0.3%. The national consumer price index now stands at 98.9 points. The basis for the points scale are the prices from December 2010 (December 2010 = 100 points).
In comparison with the February of the year prior, inflation has gone back slightly by around 0.3%. Looking at the long-term development of prices, one can see that this has been relatively constant over the past few year. In comparison with the year 2005, the average price today is only around 3% higher. In comparison with the year 1993 one can see that the average consumer today has to pay about 15% more than 20 years ago. Looking at this long-term development we can therefore see that the rise in consumer prices has been somewhat moderate.

Crude oil is more expensive, food stuffs are cheaper

The consumer had to pay more at the pump. Gasoline, diesel and heating oil have all seen an increase in cost. At the same time, however, the cost of clothing and shoes is also on the rise. The reason for this development is the end of the seasonal discounted sales periods in certain areas of the clothing industry. Another place where consumers have to pay more is housing. Aside from the increased cost of heating oil, the cost of rent has also seen an upward trend. Food stuffs, alcohol and tobacco products have all seen a drop in price. The alcohol and tobacco saw prices drop mainly as a result of special sales promotions while the food stuffs prices reduction can be attributed to seasonal price fluctuations.
The press release from the Swiss Federal Department of Statistics pertaining to these findings, as well as further information, can be found on their hompage.

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