Silvan Fuchs, Project Manager of the St.Gallen Economic Development Agency, spoke. He emphasized the importance of startups in the Canton of St.Gallen and highlighted the agency's commitment to supporting them. "We were able to jointly develop the HSG Start Accelerator. This is a project in collaboration between the HSG, the Start Global Foundation, and the Switzerland Innovation Park East."
The foundation supports national and international startups in professionalizing their businesses with a special funding program. This program aims to promote innovations in business and the startup sector.
Benefit from expertise
Diego Probst, head of Startfeld, then offered a few words about the Startfeld program. "We support future young entrepreneurs. Anyone can submit an application." Applications are then reviewed, and the best candidates are selected based on specific criteria.
Inspiring people
One person who is living and experiencing the dream of owning their own business is Nimrod Malinas, founder and CEO of Robonnement in Altstätten. "If you knew you couldn't fail, what would your dreams be, and how big would they be?"
It took Nimrod quite some time to turn his dream into reality. "Two crises prompted me to start a company. My family lost everything. When you lose everything at 21 and no longer have the security of your parents, you question a lot of things. And at 25, my best friend died of cancer." So Malinas founded his own company. His life is more than just a job. He wants to inspire people.
Reduce toxic work
This is how the Altstätten-based company Robonnement was born. Its products, robots, are aimed at both large and small companies. "Our robots are designed to relieve employees of repetitive and toxic tasks, such as painting."
Malinas emphasized the importance of democratizing robots. He said he has never seen an employee lose their job because of a robot. "Rather, that employee can be deployed elsewhere."
Learn from mistakes
In his work as a young entrepreneur, Malinas repeatedly made mistakes. But he believes these are learning opportunities. "For example, I once broke a robot. It stopped working as it should. Two hours later, a municipality called and urgently needed a robot to clean up the resin for a handball game."
And lo and behold: "The broken robot and its malfunction were ideal for removing wax. This shows that a mistake doesn't necessarily have to be a bad thing."
