The Ark Foundation provides practical assistance to help enterprises increase their competitiveness. Its aim is to build a dynamic and diverse economy within the canton of Valais. The particular features of this park are that it is spread across six different sites, and focuses on three specific areas: Information and communication sciences Life sciences Engineering sciences

2. Summary
 Economic structure of the Valais
 Strategy The Ark
 3 fields, 6 locations
 The Ark organisation
 Business model
 Financing
 SME complementarity
 The Ark’s services:
 Accelerator
 Incubator
 Innovation
The Foundation for Innovation in the Valais www.theark.ch – info@theark.ch

3. Economic structure of Valais
Craft & Industries
42.7% jobs
47.6 %
Energy
2 % jobs
Services
8.6 %
29.1 % 29 % jobs
2.1 % 12.6 %
Agriculture Tourism
7.6 % jobs 18.7 % jobs
* Indicator : GDP
Source DEVS 2003
The Foundation for Innovation in the Valais www.theark.ch – info@theark.ch

4. Strategy of the Ark
« to build the technological Valais of the future »
Promoting Bringing together
innovation competences
Supporting
Strengthening Economic
competitiveness growth
The Foundation has been created in 2004 by the state of Valais
The Foundation for Innovation in the Valais www.theark.ch – info@theark.ch

5. 3 fields and 6 technological sites
Life Science
ICT
Engineering Science
The Foundation for Innovation in the Valais www.theark.ch – info@theark.ch

6. 6 technological sites in Valais
The Foundation for Innovation in the Valais www.theark.ch – info@theark.ch

7. Organisation The Ark
The Foundation for Innovation in the Valais www.theark.ch – info@theark.ch

8. The Ark Business Model
Services management
 Accelerator  Incubator
 Innovation  Marketing
General Services
Sites management
 TeleArk  BlueArk
Funding sources  TechnoArk  PhytoArk
 IdeArk  BioArk
 Confederation,
State of Valais,
regions, communities
 European Union
 Private
 Licences/patents The Ark’s funds
 Return of subsidies
 Scouting or pilot project
Long term results
 Building and realization of « business
Projects  Creation of wealth and
innovation » projects
employment
 Start-up incubation or development
 Creation of new
incubation
 companies
 Others specific projects
The Foundation for Innovation in the Valais www.theark.ch – info@theark.ch

9. Financement 2007-2011
Funding 19.3 mio 272 projects
Sources CHF
Swiss
Confederation Funds
The Ark
29 %
33%
State of Valais
37 %
43% Projekte
Projekte
Regions Projets
Projects
12 %
13%
Communities
13 %
9%
Loterie Romande
9%
2%
Others
The Foundation for Innovation in the Valais www.theark.ch – info@theark.ch

10. Complémentarité pour les PME
SME
Universities Education
Transfert de
Institutes Technology transfer technologies
Accélérator Technology valorization
The Ark Fondation
Incubator New companies
Innovation Supporting innovation
Marketing Visibility of the technological Valais
The Foundation for Innovation in the Valais www.theark.ch – info@theark.ch

11. The Ark’services
Technologies’ providers
and companies
Founders of innovative
businesses
SME’s in Valais
The Foundation for Innovation in the Valais www.theark.ch – info@theark.ch

12. Valorisez vos technologies
The Foundation for Innovation in the Valais www.theark.ch – info@theark.ch

13. Accelerator The Ark
Bridging the gap between Science and Market
 Technical and commercial feasibility analysis
 Identification of business opportunities
 Relations with industrial partners
 Assessment of intellectual property aspects
 Suppport for legal and contractual aspects
 Development of demonstration models or prototypes
The Foundation for Innovation in the Valais www.theark.ch – info@theark.ch

14. Accelerator : end results 2011 (since 2005)
Support in commercializing new technologies
The Ark innovation
Invention
Scouting Screening Maturation
announcement Company
Realization of
First contact Identification of the prototype
Réalisation du 15 Transfers or
licences
and invention potential Feasibility (31 projects)
prototype
announceme business (25 projets)
analysis
nt form opportunities Grant The Ark Prototype
Bourse The Ark
Demonstrator
(8 projects)
(7 projets)
Transfers or
75 65 48 39 licences
10 New
companies
IP Management (patents licensing) trough The Ark
Incubator The Ark
13 patents 4 patents pending
The Foundation for Innovation in the Valais www.theark.ch – info@theark.ch

15. The privileged partner of
business creators
The Foundation for Innovation in the Valais www.theark.ch – info@theark.ch 2012

16. Incubator The Ark
The privileged partner of the entrepreneurs:
services
coaching hosting financing networks
79% des entreprises incubées durant les 5 dernières années
sont toujours en activité !
The Foundation for Innovation in the Valais www.theark.ch – info@theark.ch

17. Incubator : end results 2011 (since 2005)
A professional environment for start-up companies
Scouting Selection Pre-incubation Incubation
Realization of
the concept and
launch on the
Basic Evaluation of Formalization of market.
information on the business the business
the candidates potential concept
Growth of sales
and
consolidation
280 95 86 73
The Foundation for Innovation in the Valais www.theark.ch – info@theark.ch

18. Incubator The Ark …results
Résultats fin 2011 (depuis 2007) 70
79% 79%
81% 79%
60
13
• Entreprises 12
13
63 hébergées 50 10
(depuis 2007)
40
• Entreprises 30
50 encore en activité
44 46 48 50
(à fin 2011) 20
10
79% • Taux de survie 0
2008 2009 2010 2011
en activité plus en activité
The Foundation for Innovation in the Valais www.theark.ch – info@theark.ch

19. Incubator : results end 2011 (since 2004)
Nombre de start-ups à l’incubateur The Ark
35
30
10
25 9
10 11
20
14
8
15
11
10 21 20
19 18
5
13 12
5
8
6
0
2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011
Start-up des années précédentes dans l'incubateur Start-up entrées durant l'année
The Foundation for Innovation in the Valais www.theark.ch – info@theark.ch

20. Incubator The Ark …results
Levier financier 2007-2011
(CHF mio)
18 16.90
16
14
12
10
8
6
3.70
4
1.55
2
0
The Foundation for Innovation in the Valais www.theark.ch – info@theark.ch

21. Supporting SME’s in developping
business innovation
The Foundation for Innovation in the Valais www.theark.ch – info@theark.ch

22. Innovation : end 2011 results (since 2007)
Support for the development of business innovation
Opportunity Positioning Design Realization
Project definition,
Identifying
action plan, key Project realization
opportunities
partners
Technical and
contextual
feasibility
Evaluating the and resources Commercialization
potential identification results
136 54 32 31
The Foundation for Innovation in the Valais www.theark.ch – info@theark.ch

23. Thank you for your attention
Fondation The Ark
Bâtiment de Courten www.theark.ch
Place St-Théodule blog.theark.ch
1950 Sion info@theark.ch