In June 2025, CleantechAlps will celebrate 15 years of commitment to promoting clean technologies (cleantech) and sustainability in Western Switzerland. Founded in June 2010 on the initiative of the French-speaking cantons, the platform has established itself as a key player in the Swiss and European cleantech landscape. A look back at the last 15 years and a vision for the future.

Building an ecosystem: a long-term vision

Founded in 2010 on the initiative of the cantons of Western Switzerland, CleantechAlps has established itself as a strategic lever for bringing together players in the cleantech and sustainability sectors. Its slogan – Connect – Promote – Support – sums up its clear mission: to profile Western Switzerland as a center of excellence in clean technologies, leveraging the expertise of the innovation ecosystem and a strong network of contacts. As an accelerator, CleantechAlps connects companies, institutions, and research centers, supports the promotion of cleantech know-how, and actively contributes to value creation in a transition economy by promoting the deployment of solutions in the field.
From the outset, the platform formulated a three-phase vision:

• An emergence phase (2010–2015), marked by the rise of numerous initiatives,
• A consolidation phase for the sector (2015–2020), in a generally favorable context,
• And since 2020, a large-scale deployment phase, towards 2030 and beyond.

While the figures today demonstrate the accuracy of this vision, with more than 600 start-ups created and nearly CHF 3 billion raised in 15 years, the challenge remains: to strengthen cooperation, accelerate scaling up, and make Switzerland a global catalyst for cleantech thanks to a credible testing ground on an international scale.

An anniversary marked by community

To mark this anniversary, CleantechAlps is launching the “15 years – 15 faces” initiative: a gallery of portraits of personalities who bring the ecosystem to life on a daily basis.

Fifteen personalities, fifteen careers, fifteen voices embody cleantech. From technology to politics, from research to industry, from the local to the international, these women and men are building the cleantech of today and tomorrow, each in their own way.

Through their stories, you will discover successes to which CleantechAlps has contributed, particularly as a facilitator of connections, dialogue, and collaboration.

Discover their passion. Their inspiration. And their vision for a sustainable
future: 15 years of commitment to cleantech – CleantechAlps

About CleantechAlps

CleantechAlps’ mission is to profile Western Switzerland as a center of excellence in the field of sustainability and clean technologies. As experts in the innovation ecosystem and generalists in technology, we put our network of contacts, developed over more than 15 years, at the service of value creation by connecting players in the economic fabric. We support the promotion of know-how and the dissemination of expertise in the cleantech field.
CleantechAlps is part of the regional innovation system in Western Switzerland. This inter-cantonal ecosystem brings together four sectoral platforms—Alp ICT, BioAlps, Micronarc, and CleantechAlps—as well as two coaching services, platinn and Alliance. It is managed by ARI-SO and accessible through a branch (entry point) in each of the six cantons covered.