Founded in 1875 by Jules-Louis Audemars and Edward-Auguste Piguet in the Swiss village of Le Brassus, Audemars Piguet is the oldest Manufacture of Haute Horlogerie never to have left the hands of the founding families. Today, its range encompasses complex mechanical watches, Haute Joaillerie creations as well as a line of jewellery. At each stage in its history, the Manufacture has daringly adopted avant-garde techniques in order to place them in the service of traditional craftsmanship. This approach has earned it an unparalleled number of world firsts in the field of Haute Horlogerie.

Egon Zehnder International was founded in 1964 in Zurich and today the firm specializes in Board Effectiveness Reviews, Leadership Strategy Services and Executive Search at the Management and Board levels. The Firm has a distinctive vision and structure aimed at achieving two basic goals - placing clients' interests first and to lead its profession in creating value for its clients through the assessment and recruitment of top-level management resources. The Firm has a structure which is unique in its profession. The Firm's 385 consultants, operating from 63 wholly owned offices in 37 countries, are organized around a single-profit center partnership. This is designed to eliminate competitive barriers between offices. It allows the Firm to operate seamlessly when engagements call for multi-office, cross collaboration and knowledge sharing. Large or small, local or global, clients benefit from this structure by having access to the Firm's most relevant resources and relationships wherever they may reside.

Schroders is a global asset management company established in 1804 with EUR 133 billion assets under management. The company still bears the stamp of the founding Schroder family and focuses exclusively on asset management and private banking. The independence of its advisory and financial services is reflected in the bank’s structure: Schroders has a very solid financial base. Schroders has had a local presence in Switzerland since 1967 and the offices in Zurich and Geneva (since 1984) service a national and international private and institutional clientele. In Switzerland, Schroder & Co Banque SA provides a wide range of asset management and credit services

Founded in 1949 and headquartered in Minneapolis, Medtronic Inc. https://www.medtronic.com. is the global leader in medical technology. At the core of all we do is our Mission to alleviate pain, restore health and extend life for people with chronic conditions around the world. This provides a clear path for all employees as we work together to take Medtronic to the next level. Medtronic develops and manufactures a wide range of products and therapies with emphasis on providing a complete continuum of care to diagnose, prevent and monitor chronic conditions. Each year, Medtronic therapies help more than seven million people.

For more than a century, Morgan Lewis lawyers have helped clients achieve their business goals, and clients have come to rely on the firm for its tradition of professional excellence, integrity and client service. Morgan Lewis has more than 1,400 lawyers and 300 other professionals (including technical specialists, patent agents and paralegals) in 22 offices worldwide. We have a complete range of practices and are well positioned to meet clients' critical legal needs.
 

We represent life sciences entrepreneurs in a wide range of industries, including biotech and specialty pharmaceutical companies, industry associations and academic research institutions, medical device manufacturers, food and nutritional companies, and healthcare service providers. Our goal is to help our clients’ businesses succeed by delivering high-quality, cost-effective legal services with value-added benefits. We operate as one team, applying the combined backgrounds and knowledge of our attorneys and technical specialists to quickly handle our clients’ issues. Connect at Morgan Lewis is a national program that our Emerging Business and Life Sciences Practice has created to foster connections between investors, entrepreneurs, and executives. Having worked with nearly all of the major venture capital firms and other biotech-focused financing sources available, our services extend beyond legal guidance. We also help our clients establish connections and refine presentations for investors and business partners.

Sofinnova Partners is an independent venture capital firm based in Paris. We invest in early stage companies and corporate spin-offs, in the technology and life sciences spaces:

• 460 companies financed in Europe since 1972
• Over 1 in 5 companies financed have gone public
• Over 1 in 5 companies financed have been acquired
• 40 jobs created per company on average between financing and exit
• Revenues multiplied by 8 on average between financing and exit

Swiss Medtech is an organisation consisting of several public and private institutions, specialists in healthcare, industry and research, and regulatory bodies and aims to improve access to products and services in this sector and consolidating the network.

The mission of the Department for Economic Affairs of the State of Vaud is to put in place the framework conditions required to promote economic growth. Its objectives are designed to highlight the know-how of companies and to make the canton an attractive and competitive environment.

The vitality of economy in the Canton of Vaud is particularly remarkable in state-of-the-art industries with high added value such as life sciences, information technology, micro- and nanotechnology, environmental and agri-food technologies. Strong political support and many concrete state support and incentives serve to reinforce growth in these sectors.

Endeavour Vision is European cross-boarder venture capital firm providing expertise and funding to entrepreneurs with global ambitions in technology, cleantech and life sciences. Endeavour Vision combines a team of experienced venture capital professionals responsible for investments in over 70 companies in 12 countries in Technology and Life Sciences since 1989. We are passionate about building the next entrepreneurial success story and being entrepreneurs ourselves, we have a deep understanding of what it takes to develop successful companies. Endeavour Vision’s DNA comes from three established firms: Genevest, an early European VC started in 1983, Vision Capital Europe, established in 1997 as a pioneer in Trans-Atlantic venture capital, and Endeavour, a VC formed by entrepreneurs for entrepreneurs. To better support entrepreneurs, the firm is a main supporter of: the European Tech Tour Association, a non-profit foundation generating networking opportunities for Entrepreneurs with VC’s, large corporations and corporate advisors.

EPFL is one of the two Ecoles Polytechniques fédérales in Switzerland. Like its sister institution, ETHZ, it has three missions: education, research and technology transfer at the highest international level. Associated with several specialised research institutes, the two EPFs form the EPF domain, which is directly dependent on the Federal Department of Home Affairs.

EPFL, in its idyllic location on the shores of Lake Geneva, brings together a campus of more than 10,000 people. By its novel structure, the school stimulates collaboration between students, professors, researchers and entrepreneurs. These daily interactions give rise to new and groundbreaking work in science, technology and architecture.

Linde Healthcare supplies medical professionals with safe, effective solutions to their pharmaceutical and medical gas needs. Our products and services play important roles in emergency, hospital and intermediate care as well as in homecare. The company has a strong track record as innovator and is a genuine global player, represented in more than 70 countries around the world.

The Novartis Venture Funds established in 1996 currently manages over $750 million in committed capital. NVF invests in companies which have a potential to change a core therapeutic field or explore new business areas that will be critical to patient care. Our primary interest is in the development of novel therapeutics and platforms as well as medical devices, diagnostics, and delivery systems. The funds invest for financial objectives at all stages, but prefers to invest in the eraly-stage of company development. With eight investment professional s located in Basel, Switzerland and Canbridge, MA the team has extensive experience in pharmaceutical R&D and venture capital.

The European Trade Association for Business Angels, Seed Funds, and other Early Stage Market Players is a pan-European organization gathering over 100 member organizations from 27 countries, including business angels networks and federations of networks, early stage venture capital funds (investing less than 3 million euros per transaction, and interested in cross-border collaboration with angels). EBAN represents circa 250 angel groups in Europe via direct or indirect membership, reaching out to 20.000 angels and receiving circa 40.000 business plans a year. It was established in 1999 with the collaboration of the European Commission by a group of pioneer angel networks in Europe. EBAN’s mission is to enhance the visibility of business angels, business angel networks, and early stage funds and help its members exchange good practices.

The European Private Equity and Venture Capital Association (EVCA) is a member-based, non-profit trade association and was established in 1983 and is based in Brussels. EVCA represents, promotes and protects the interests of the European private equity and venture capital industry.