The St.Gallen-based start-up matriq develops coding and marking solutions for plastic products that enable unique identification and traceability for quality control, thereby also helping to protect against counterfeiting. The spin-off from the former NTB, now part of OST – Eastern Switzerland University of Applied Sciences, started off in 2019 in the cleanroom on the Buchs campus and is now based at the Switzerland Innovation Park Ost in St.Gallen. It currently delivers to customers in the DACH region, as well as in Italy, France, the Czech Republic and Canada.
André Bernard, as a spin-off from NTB, you wrote the first chapters of your success story in the cleanroom on the Buchs campus. What has changed for you since then?
André Bernard: To begin with, we drove our development work forward in the cleanroom and implemented our first Innosuisse projects with research and industry partners. As our products evolved, so too did the demands placed on process stability, reliability and facility availability. As NTB was unable to offer us a high level of redundancy in the process chain due to its limited resources, we expanded our network and brought the Swiss Centre for Electronics and Microtechnology (CSEM) on board as an additional production and development site for our microsystems. However, OST remains an important partner to this day.
“Innosuisse supports us with coaching and a wide network of experts who help us make progress in areas such as fundraising, business development and market entry.”
How important is collaboration with universities and research institutes for you?
Cooperation with universities and research organisations is a key component of our work. As well as OST in Buchs and Rapperswil and the CSEM, we also collaborate with the University of Applied Sciences and Arts Northwestern Switzerland (FHNW), ETH Zurich and other research partners. In our view, it is crucial that project management rests with the industrial partner – that is, with us. Universities operate at a different pace and have different priorities. If the project objectives are not closely aligned with our operational objectives, we lose valuable time. With this approach, however, we can benefit greatly from academic expertise. In addition, Innosuisse supports us with coaching and a wide network of experts who help us make progress in areas such as fundraising, business development and market entry.
What are your biggest challenges at the moment?
As a scale-up, we face several challenges at once. Financing is a major issue. We must secure sufficient funding to enable the company to develop further and grow. Closely linked to this is production reliability. Stable processes and consistently high quality are crucial, particularly when it comes to microsystems. Added to this is the challenging situation in our target markets, such as the automotive, industrial and medtech sectors. These sectors are under considerable pressure: energy costs, geopolitical uncertainties and fierce competition in the injection moulding and plastics processing sectors are taking their toll, including on our customers. That is why it is always a question of setting the right priorities for us: where should we invest today so that we can achieve sustainable growth tomorrow?
Which other regional networks, clusters or partnerships are you involved in?
We are active in various plastics networks in Switzerland, Austria and Germany. There we meet mould makers, injection moulders, medical technology companies and other partners from the industry. These networks are important to us for establishing contacts and maintaining dialogue with the industry. At the same time, however, we also note that memberships can be expensive for start-ups. Furthermore, communication with French-speaking Switzerland is not always easy; the language barrier is palpable. In our view, a cross-regional network would offer real added value.
“Programmes run by Innosuisse and Switzerland Global Enterprise, as well as our international network, help us to enter new markets.”
How do you manage to access global markets from St.Gallen?
Our sales operations are managed entirely from St.Gallen; at present, we do not have any branches abroad. We currently supply customers in the DACH region and in several European countries, as well as in Canada; we are also on the verge of entering further markets such as China, Taiwan and the USA. The biggest challenge here is not sales, but local support. Customers expect rapid response times and knowledgeable local contacts, regardless of language barriers and time zones. How we scale this as our customer base grows is something we’re actively working on. Programmes run by Innosuisse and Switzerland Global Enterprise, as well as our international network, help us to enter new markets. At the same time, issues such as customs, exchange rates and export formalities are part of our day-to-day work.
How easy is it to launch a new product?
This is generally a challenge. This is all the more true when the innovation in question is not incremental, but radical or disruptive. Our solution is directly integrated into our customers’ production processes. For a young, as yet little-known company, this is a Herculean task and, at the same time, our greatest source of motivation.
“The region boasts a strong SME sector with a wealth of expertise, for example in mechanical engineering, manufacturing technology and medical technology. This makes it much easier for start-ups to find the right partners.”
Is the Eastern Switzerland region open to new ideas and businesses?
Eastern Switzerland isn’t Silicon Valley, but it’s far better than it always makes itself out to be. Playing it down is almost part of the mindset here. A lot has happened in recent years: there are more programmes, events and awards now that support start-ups and raise the profile of innovation. At the same time, the region boasts a strong SME sector with a wealth of expertise, for example in mechanical engineering, manufacturing technology and medical technology. This makes it much easier for start-ups to find the right partners.
matriq develops coding and marking solutions for plastic products that enable unique identification and traceability for quality control. Discover the startup in the video.
