The ability to transform ideas into businesses, create connections between research and the economic fabric, and support the digital transformation of companies continues to be one of the key elements of Ticino's competitiveness. This is the image that emerges from the 2025 Annual Report of the ACT Foundation, the cantonal agency responsible for coordinating the Regional Innovation System, which captures a year characterized by an expansion of activities, an increase in requests for support, and a strengthening of the Foundation's role within the Swiss innovation ecosystem.
The report highlights widespread growth across startups, small and medium-sized enterprises, acceleration programs, international collaborations, and artificial intelligence initiatives, outlining an increasingly complex and technologically advanced system.
Innovation in Ticino: an ecosystem that continues to expand
Founded in 2011, AGIRE's mission is to foster innovation, digitalization, and technology transfer in Ticino businesses. It coordinates the Regional Innovation System, manages the Ticino Technology Park in Manno, and promotes the Boldbrain Startup Challenge program, dedicated to young, highly innovative companies. In recent years, the Foundation has also played a key role in the development of the Swiss Innovation Park in Ticino, contributing to the creation of Switzerland Innovation Park Ticino SA.
2025 also saw the transition of the presidency from Luca Bolzani to Stefano Colombo, a change that is part of a continuity strategy designed to further consolidate the Foundation's role as a point of reference for innovative companies, startups, and institutional partners.
Growing demand and support for innovation in Ticino
One of the most significant data concerns the Point of Entry, the desk that represents the first contact between companies and the Regional Innovation System.
In 2025, 346 requests were received, a 30% increase over the previous year. Seventy-one percent of them came directly from the Regional Innovation System, and the user satisfaction rate reached 92%.
The increase in requests also corresponds to an increase in coaching activities: 259 cases were supported among startups and SMEs, a 20% increase compared to 2024. 82% of the projects supported come from the Ticino region, and the satisfaction of the companies involved reaches 100%, according to the Foundation.
The support model is based on personalized programs that include strategic consulting, business model development, access to financing, and organizational strengthening of companies.
Digitalization and artificial intelligence at the heart of support for SMEs
The report highlights how digital transformation continues to represent the area in which the majority of requests from small and medium-sized enterprises are concentrated.
In 2025, 36 new coaching programs dedicated to SMEs were launched, focusing primarily on designing digital initiatives, identifying financial instruments, and introducing new technologies, including AI-based applications. To address increasingly specialized needs, an external coaching service for more complex cases was also introduced.
Alongside individual support, AGIRE continued its outreach activities through workshops, thematic meetings, and Action Day, an event dedicated to corporate innovation that in 2025 brought together over 250 participants, 33 exhibitors, and eleven specialized conferences.
Startups on the rise and new investments in innovation in Ticino
The startup sector continues to show significant growth.
In 2025, 68 new innovative companies joined the Foundation's portfolio, bringing the total number of active startups supported by AGIRE to 169, compared to 124 the previous year. At the same time, 23 projects were completed, often following the achievement of full entrepreneurial autonomy or strategic changes to projects.
The investor network is another strategic lever. Through the Scouting4Investors program, two meetings were organized involving eleven startups and twenty-seven investors. Since 2021, five of the forty-five companies presented have subsequently received investment.
Among the results highlighted in the report are the funding raised by several companies born within the Ticino ecosystem, such as InVirtuoLabs, which received 2,6 million francs after winning Boldbrain 2024, and BigOmics, which raised an investment of 1,6 million francs, consolidating its international positioning.
Boldbrain confirms its role
The Boldbrain Startup Challenge program continues to be the Canton’s leading accelerator for early-stage startups.
The 2025 edition received a total of 141 applications, of which 85 were complete and 78 were deemed eligible. Twenty startups participated in the acceleration program, receiving a total of over 500 hours of specialized coaching. All participants rated the program positively, and over half stated that the program exceeded their initial expectations.
The program also continues to expand its content dedicated to sustainability, social impact, inclusion, and investment readiness, strengthening the network of relationships between startups, partners, and investors. In 2025, the PressStartAward was also introduced, developed in collaboration with the Corriere del Ticino Group to increase the visibility of the finalist startups.
Among the awarded projects, CC Cardio stands out, winning the 2025 edition thanks to its development of a miniaturized heart pump for children with severe congenital heart disease. Also on the podium were MethylX, OOVIE Studios SA, Tellus GreenTech, and Windtracx Sagl.
Ticino Technopole: Stable Growth and New Partnerships
The Ticino Technology Park confirms its role as a hub dedicated to innovative entrepreneurship.
The space occupancy rate has reached 88%, with 28 companies located there, mainly active in the ICT, software, data engineering, energy, and cleantech sectors.
Overall, the hosted companies generate a turnover of approximately 25 million francs, have raised over 2 million in investments in 2025 alone, and employ approximately 380 people. Since the Technopole's launch, total investments have exceeded 87 million francs.
Collaborations with universities and research centers continue to increase, while the satisfaction level of the companies located there stands at 85%.
Sustainability and artificial intelligence enter the strategy
The report also devotes ample space to integrating sustainability into the Foundation's management.
Throughout 2025, measures were introduced to monitor energy consumption and emissions, increase waste sorting, reduce paper waste, and organize events with more stringent environmental criteria. Sustainability was also incorporated into training programs for startups, helping to spread new skills throughout the innovation ecosystem.
At the same time, collaboration continues with the Swiss National Supercomputing Center (SCM) within the APERTUS project, an initiative dedicated to the development of artificial intelligence language models geared towards data protection, transparency, and European and Swiss regulatory compliance. Over the course of the year, over twenty contacts were established with companies and organizations interested in new AI applications.
The outlook looks to 2026
The guidelines for next year include further strengthening support for startups and SMEs, greater integration between coaching, sustainability, and access to financing, as well as the development of new digital tools and artificial intelligence applications for both internal management and business services.
Priorities also include strengthening collaborations with institutional partners, evolving the Ticino Technology Park, strengthening communications activities, and continuing strategic initiatives such as MITICA and APERTUS, which are considered crucial to increasing the Canton's competitiveness in technology-intensive sectors.
