Selection criteria

Eligibility Criteria

The following formal criteria will be checked by the Prototype Fund team before your project is assessed by the jury:

• Does the project contribute to (ecologically) sustainable digitalization in Switzerland? This can involve approaches of efficiency, consistency, and/or sufficiency.
• Does the project propose an open-source solution?
• If the project does not use protected data, does it rely on open data and make any “produced” or processed data publicly available within the scope of the project?
• Are the applicants of legal age?
• Do the applicants have a valid work permit in Switzerland?

In collaboration with the Christoph Merian Foundation, we will fund one project team in 2025 with a presence and/or impact area in Basel-Stadt.

Evaluation Criteria

If the eligibility criteria are met, your project will be evaluated across four dimensions, each carrying equal weight in the final decision:

• (Digital) Sufficiency: To what extent does the project help reduce the absolute level of resource and energy consumption or emissions in Switzerland through or with digital technology?
• Innovation: How new is your idea? Does the project improve existing solutions by making them more effective and/or ecologically sustainable? This can include infrastructure as well. Does it adapt existing tools (e.g., code, libraries, interfaces) for new contexts or make them accessible to new target groups?
• Feasibility and Team:
  • Does the project team have the necessary skills to implement the idea?
  • Is the idea realizable within six months?
  • Long-Term Viability: Do the project and the project team have the potential and a plan to sustain beyond the funding period?

Diversity of projects and project teams

The jury will also assess whether the final selection of projects meets the following criteria:

• Diversity of Projects: Does the final selection encompass a variety of projects?
• Diversity of Teams: When choosing between projects of comparable quality, we prefer interdisciplinary teams that include members from underrepresented groups.
• Moonshot Potential: Does the final project selection include one project that is particularly ambitious, with challenging implementation but high impact potential?