Mentorships

Cara founded a successful blended climate finance platform in 2015.

In 2018, she was invited to join Clean Energy Ventures (CEV) where she mentors start-ups  funded by CEV at seed and Series A levels.

Cara mentors approximately 40  companies annually for Mass Challenge (MC) Switzerland  as their climate solutions and sustainable manufacturing coach. She supports  MC start-ups to identify KPIs, improve pitches and financial projections and  find paid pilots and investment. This year, Cara supported start-ups to  quantify their impacts on the SDGs. In 2023, she coached 6 of the top 10  start-ups and has received the highest ratings as a coach for 2 consecutive  years. Some of the start-ups that Cara has coached/is coaching include:  LiveGrow Bio, Carbonaught, Gaia Technologies, Databaum, Revocircle and  Instaheat.

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Cara is also an Energy and Environment expert for Innosuisse and accredited Special Coach for Sustainable business strategies and impact measurement (SDGs).

Passionate, successful, and seasoned engineering and innovation executive, having led multiple R&D teams around the world, benefiting from a sharp and holistic business understanding to shape and optimize processes, tools, and organizations, to timely deliver and produce new products impacting the business, creating value for all stakeholders.

Took benefit from the above to coach and drive technology startups to success, highly appreciated by owners and shareholders, staying close to small SMEs and research organizations to develop collaborations and a proper agile innovation mindset.

MSc (1986) and PHD (1990) from EPFL, then always active in developing business / products (motors &electronics, sensors, fluidic related products) for OEM customers, working first 10 years for a startup (ETEL), then 10 years for a mid-size and global sensors’ company (LEM), then 12 years for a large multinational (IMI) as Global Engineering Director.

Elisabetta is a strategy development partner, in a mission to transform innovation into sustainable innovation through knowledge dissemination.

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Chemist, with more than twenty years' experience in the industry, her expertise covers business management, business development management, strategy development, complex project management.

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She is currently working as Sustainability Manager for the program Tech4Regen at the EPFL Innovation Park.

She is an expert for Innosuisse where she brings scientific, innovation, business acumen and sustainability knowledge.

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Passionate about sustainability and the positive impact of businesses, Ivana has an academic and professional background in corporate communication, marketing, and project management. She has built strong expertise in product launches, campaign management, and brand strategy development. 

Today, Ivana is deepening her expertise in sustainability by integrating responsible practices into corporate strategies. Her approach combines strategic vision and hands-on execution to drive high-impact initiatives. 

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