🚀 SIC Olympic Capital
🚀 SIC Olympic Capital
Calling startups, scale-ups, SMEs, and large corporates! Join our SIC Olympic Capital program and innovate with us! 💥
Welcome to the SIC Olympic Capital
This challenge offers a unique collaborative and validation experience for international startups, scale-ups, SMEs, and large corporations that wish to develop new or existing innovative solutions addressing key challenges in sport.
Focused on SportTech, the program is designed to develop, improve, test, and validate impactful solutions through a structured, multi-phase innovation journey combining, identification of key partners for collaboration, feedbacks from potential clients (market validation), development and testing roadmap, and international visibility to leverage support for next steps. Your company will join our thriving Olympic capital innovation ecosystem of federations, academics, R&D, risk capital, public support!
Programme Objectives
- Foster project-based collaboration between industry, sport stakeholders, academia, and infrastructure
- Support innovation validation through real-life testing environments
- Give exposure to international stakeholders to support follow-up developments
- Give participants the opportunity to identify how to leverage a presence in the Vaud ecosystem to benefit their development
Who can apply?
You are a startup, scale-up, SME, or large corporate from anywhere in the world, you have an existing product or service and would like to work, embed or implement your project in the Canton of Vaud.
Eligibility conditions: If you have innovative sport applicable solutions that YOU WISH TO DEVELOP, IMPROVE, and TEST, and are interested in anchoring and testing it in the Canton of Vaud, Switzerland, apply now to join the program!
Projects must have a SportTech focus*; proposals without a sport-related approach will not be considered.
* SportTech: refers to the use of technology and innovation to enhance sport performance, health, operations, participation, and fan engagement across all levels of sport. It includes data-driven, digital, and hardware solutions applied to training, competition, infrastructure, and the overall sport experience.
Benefits of Joining the Program & Immersing in Vaud
By joining the challenge program, participants benefit from a unique opportunity to develop, test, and validate sport innovations in real-world environments. The program brings together sport organizations, economic actors, industry, academia, and infrastructure to foster project-based collaboration and accelerate the development of impactful solutions addressing challenges shared across multiple sports.
Participants will immerse themselves in the Vaud "Sport Valley", the Olympic Capital’s innovation ecosystem, gaining access to international federations, leading academic and R&D institutions, and public innovation support. Beyond international visibility and credibility, the program offers a strategic gateway to partnerships, testing opportunities, and long-term collaboration with or anchoring in Switzerland.
NB: The immersion package includes support for one participant, but you are welcome to bring additional team members at your own expense.
Timeline
Application Phase
10 February 2026 - 10 May 2026
Register now, attend webinars to discover what the on the Vaud ecosystem can offer you, set-up partnerships to fine-tune your solutions and submit your collaborative project in the region!
•••
Selection Phase
11 May 2026 - 26 May 2026
All projects submitted by candidates during the application phase will be evaluated by a panel of experts from 11th May to 26th May, based on predefined criteria.
The top 5 projects will be shortlisted by the expert panel, attributed a mentor for guidance and will be invited to participate in a 7-day on-site immersion program in Lausanne to set-up collaborations leading to project development, potential live testing and feedbacks in local ecosystem and potentially international sport events.
The selected projects by the experts will be announced on 1st June 2026.
The top 5 projects will be shortlisted by the expert panel, attributed a mentor for guidance and will be invited to participate in a 7-day on-site immersion program in Lausanne to set-up collaborations leading to project development, potential live testing and feedbacks in local ecosystem and potentially international sport events.
The selected projects by the experts will be announced on 1st June 2026.
Everyone will receive a notification from the platform to inform them of the final results.
•••
Vaud Immersion Phase
14 September 2026 - 20 September 2026
The Immersion in the sport ecosystem of Canton of Vaud phase offers selected corporations a unique opportunity to meet experts identified, validate collaborations, consolidate project development roadmap and prepare the launch of innovation project and testing.
At the end of this immersion, you will know how can leverage the expertise from the sport ecosystem of Canton of Vaud, have the right contracts to develop your project and a defined plan of actions for development, improvement of your solutions and market penetration.
Testing Phase
For the most advanced projects, a testing phase can be defined and set up during the immersion phase given the opportunity to test and validate their innovative solutions in real-world sport environments.
Contracts will be established for relevant testing depending on the nature of the tests to be run, and the project maturity.
The Testing Phase plays a critical role in bridging innovation and operational reality, further validating a solution.
•••
Showcasing Phase
November 2026 - June 2027
During this phase, corporations could have potentially the opportunity to present their solutions to major sport events and for the most advanced implement it at major sport events in the Canton of Vaud, taking place from end-2026 to mid-2027. This stage provides a unique platform to showcase current solutions and planned innovation in front of sport stakeholders, industry leaders, and an engaged audience to leverage buy-in and support for full implementation.
This Phase ensures that the solution is recognized, promoted, and positioned for future growth within the global sport ecosystem.
14 Sept - 20 Sept 2026
Site UNIL-EPFL
Location & Travel
Cubotron Building, Route de la Sorge, 1015 Lausanne
Metro
Line M2, stop UNIL Sorge, walk around 140 meters
Bus
Line 1, stop Ecublens VD, Champagne, walk around 500 meters
Car
Visitors can park at the UNIL paid parking facilities (Parking UNIL – Sorge), located within walking distance of the Cubotron building