Innosuisse Flagship Initiative

Flagship Initiative — Innosuisse × armasuisse dual-use technologies

Funds Swiss dual-use initiatives at the defence and mobility frontier with security and resilience focus.

The Flagship Initiative is Innosuisse's instrument for stimulating systemic, transdisciplinary innovation on topics relevant to large segments of the Swiss economy or society. A Flagship project requires a consortium of at least three research partners — of which at least one must be a University of Applied Sciences (UAS) — and at least two implementation partners (companies or public/private institutions) that operate in Switzerland and engage in value-creating activities. Implementation partners must cover 40–60 percent of overall project costs and contribute at least 5 percent of total project costs as a cash contribution to research partners.

For 2026, Innosuisse and armasuisse have announced a joint Flagship call focused on dual-use technologies under the theme 'Resilient and Secure Technologies for Defence and Mobility', responding to the Federal Council's armaments policy priority of strengthening research and innovation in the security field. The official launch is scheduled for 1 July 2026. The announcement was issued by André Kudelski, Innosuisse Board Chairman, and Urs Loher, armasuisse National Armaments Director, via press release dated 30 April 2026. Project award amounts, total pool, and submission deadlines for the full call are not yet published as of the announced launch date.

The process follows the standard Flagship two-stage structure: a mandatory pre-proposal stage followed by a full proposal for invited consortia. Evaluation criteria cover innovation degree, value creation and sustainability in Switzerland, methodological quality, partner expertise, and cost-benefit ratio. The Innovation Council of Innosuisse makes the final funding decision; rejected decisions may be appealed to the Federal Administrative Court within 30 days. After approval, a subsidy contract must be concluded with Innosuisse before work can begin, and an IPR agreement among partners must be finalised within six months of project start.