Entrepreneurship and Spin-offs

The Technology Transfer Office at PSI also support the creation of new companies, started by our Scientists with the goal of commercializing technologies and know-how developed at PSI.

This is a goal at PSI that finds broad support as it has several important results:

Return on Investment for Switzerland – Much of the research carried out at PSI is supported by grants and funding from the federal government or one of its supporting bodies. By bringing the results of this research to market in valuable products and services helps strengthen Switzerland economically, maintaining its position as the worlds most innovative country.

Attracts Investment - The Spin-Offs of PSI are attractive investments for Angel and VC investors from within Switzerland and beyond. This increases the visibility of PSI, the Canton of Aargau and Switzerland as a center of Innovation.

Jobs Creation - The entrepreneurship activities at PSI have helped to create 19 Spin-Off companies and approximately 180 jobs, the majority of which are located within the Canton of Aargau.

PSI Founder Fellowship

However, turning a promising research result into a market-ready, innovative product is usually a long journey that requires a lot of initiative, responsibility, and willingness to take risks. Potential entrepreneurs face business challenges such as analyzing target markets, developing the technology into a product, and refining the business idea and creating a business plan.

The PSI Founder Fellowship Program (PSIFF) supports potential founders in developing their business ideas based on PSI know-how or technologies and turning them into commercial products or services.The PSIFF bridges the gap between a scientific career and starting a spin-off company.

The PSIFF is awarded annually as a competitive scholarship. It aims to further develop the entrepreneurial thinking of the fellows and gives the awardee the chance to build a solid business plan ready for company launch and investment. The applicants for the PSIFF are given coaching in the run up to the fellowship application deadline and the eventual winners are given continued support by the TTO during their 12 – 18 month fellowship. Several successful spin-offs have already emerged from the PSIFF program, including the successful biotech startup "Araris Biotech AG", and XRnanotech. Additional Spin-Offs are in the pipeline.

This year’s application deadline is September 15, 2025. At the end of October, it will be announced which applicants have been selected by the external jury.

Support our Entrepreneurs!

Our Spin-Offs and their technologies have the potential to bring highly successful products or services to the market. But turning these ideas into reality takes more than just brilliance – it needs dedicated and visionary entrepreneurs ready to take these technologies to market.

Our entrepreneurs are pioneers who are willing to take risks and put their passion into turning their commercialization dreams into reality creating value and impact for our region and for Switzerland. They bring technical knowledge and scientific expertise, along with a strong drive to create something significant. Yet, even the most committed innovators need support to make their visions come true.

Help us in supporting these pioneers! Your support – whether financial, through mentoring, or simply through making valuable connections within your personal network can make the difference to help these new companies thrive and succeed.

Financial Support

Your donation to the PSI Founder Fellowship program can make the world of difference, and enable us to widen our reach for entrepreneurs within PSI. With sufficient funding we might even be able to expand the number of fellows that we are able to support.

Mentoring Support

Giving your time to help our entrepreneurs gain the benefit of your knowledge and experience could be the difference between success and disaster. Our entrepreneurs start their journey as scientists and have a steep learning curve ahead of them. If you would like to help as a business mentor please contact us.

Network Partners

Simply offering to help make introductions to others that can help or open doors can be highly valuable for a start-up company. Our scientists are well networked in the scientific community, but have few contacts in the commercial word. If you would like to help by making connections – do not hesitate to contact us.

Principles for Spin-offs at PSI

The Paul Scherrer Institute actively supports the creation and development of spin-offs, as they are an efficient way to bring research results, know-how, and intellectual property to market.

To ensure transparency and provide founders with a clear framework, PSI makes the following documents available:

Guidelines for Start-ups & Spin-offs at PSI

The guidelines (available in English only) provide orientation for PSI employees interested in founding start-ups based on PSI technologies. They cover topics such as:

Use of intellectual property (IP)
Disclosure and avoidance of conflicts of interest
Support offered by the Technology Transfer Office
Principles of participation

The aim is to create a transparent framework and foster the successful commercialization of technologies developed at PSI.

👉 Guidelines for Start-ups and Spin-offs at PSI

Licensing Principles for Spin-offs in the ETH Domain

Together with the institutions of the ETH Domain, PSI has published new licensing principles. These harmonized rules aim to:

Promote the establishment of spin-offs in Switzerland and the dissemination of knowledge from publicly funded research,
Ensure fair returns for the institutions, and
Create consistent standards for handling intellectual property and licensing conditions.

This ensures that innovative developments can be more widely applied while strengthening the research and development objectives of the ETH Domain.

More information on the common licensing principles for spin-offs