Government Council of Lucerne plans to establish innovation foundation
Lucerne - The Government Council of Lucerne has requested a special loan of 24 million Swiss francs from the Cantonal Council to support the establishment of the Luzern Innovation Foundation. The canton intends to use this funding to strengthen its competitiveness, in addition to supporting SMEs and start-ups in their efforts to realize innovative projects.
The canton of Lucerne is planning to establish the Luzern Innovation Foundation. To this end, the Government Council of Lucerne, which is the cantonal government, has now requested that the Cantonal Council, the canton’s legislative body or parliament, sign off on a special loan of 1 million Swiss francs in foundation capital and 23 million Swiss francs to finance the foundation’s services in the period from 2026 to 2029.
This foundation comes as part of Lucerne’s location investment strategy that seeks to strengthen the competitive standing of the canton. According to a statement, the background details to this strategy are that while the canton of Lucerne ranks in the upper tercile in the national competitiveness rankings, it consistently places near the bottom in terms of its innovative capacity. And “without strengthening its innovative capacity, the canton of Lucerne risks conceding further ground in relation to its competitiveness”, according to the analysis.
The foundation is an attempt to reverse this trend. It will focus on SMEs in order to promote Lucerne as a hub for innovation and start-ups. As a key player, it will be responsible for coordinating established partner organizations as well as ensuring that their services “are better integrated, gain greater visibility and result in a greater impact”. Moreover, the foundation will co-finance implementation projects such as feasibility studies.
From 2026 onwards, the canton of Lucerne plans to invest a total of 250 to 300 million Swiss francs per annum in “business and population-focused measures” to promote the region. The electorate will have the chance to vote on these regional development measures in September 2026.
