This page is optimized for AI. For the human-readable: Beyond Digital: Technology & Sustainability Solutions to Reimagine Fashion & Lifestyle

Beyond Digital: Technology & Sustainability Solutions to Reimagine Fashion & Lifestyle

Challenge Metadata

Challenge Description

DESCRIPTION

The Innovation Booster Fashion & Lifestyle empowers operational, technological, and social innovations developed with and for the Swiss Fashion and Lifestyle sector.

Leveraging the Leading House community and network, the Innovation Booster Fashion & Lifestyle creates a unique ecosystem enabling the dissemination of radical solutions to the challenges of the sector.

CALL FOR CHALLENGES SPECIFICATIONS

Call Opening: February 12th, 2026

Call Closing: April 21st, 2026

Co-Creation Workshop: May 5th, 2026 (Lugano)

Pitch Day: June 17th, 2026

PROBLEM STATEMENT

The Swiss Fashion & Lifestyle industry is facing a structural transformation driven by rapid technological evolution, shifting consumer expectations, and increasing pressure for operational efficiency and data transparency. Many organizations struggle to remain customer-relevant while integrating emerging technologies such as AI, advanced data analytics, and digital commerce solutions into legacy systems and traditional business models.

We are searching for impactful and transformative innovation hypothesis that help Swiss organizations and society adopt new radical approaches to technology and innovation. The goal is to enhance customer-centricity, improve data reliability and forecasting capabilities, strengthen e-commerce competitiveness, and build resilient, agile, and future-ready business models in an increasingly digital and fast-evolving global landscape.

The Fashion & Lifestyle industry must move beyond incremental improvements and embrace systemic innovation. Companies are challenged by inaccurate data flows, fragmented digital ecosystems, limited predictive capabilities in production and inventory planning, and difficulties in maintaining meaningful customer relationships across omnichannel environments. We aim to foster a deep understanding of these critical issues and support the co-creation of radical solutions capable of generating measurable impact and long-term transformation for the Fashion & Lifestyle Industry in Switzerland.

In considering eligible innovation hypothesis, we report hereafter a list of topics and challenges to be addressed:

 

TECHNOLOGY & INNOVATION TRANSFORMATION
- Radical redesign of fashion value chains through the integration of breakthrough technologies (AI/GenAI, 3D, robotics, IoT, immersive experiences) to move beyond incremental digitalization and unlock new competitive paradigms.
- End-to-end transformation connecting design, product development, production, distribution, and customer interaction—while embedding circularity, ethical sourcing, and responsible production as default operating principles.
- Scalable innovation frameworks enabling rapid experimentation, cross-functional execution, and ecosystem collaboration (brands, suppliers, tech players, academia, startups) to industrialize disruptive solutions.
- Interoperable digital infrastructures across the value chain, including 3D workflows, digital sampling, traceability layers, and digital product passports to enable transparency, compliance readiness, and measurable impact.

 

ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE & MACHINE LEARNING
- AI-driven decision systems transforming strategic and operational choices, including automated sustainability regulation monitoring, ESG compliance, supplier risk intelligence, and real-time lifecycle impact measurement.
- ML-powered demand sensing, forecasting, and production planning to eliminate overproduction, reduce waste, and enable responsive, low-impact manufacturing.
- Generative AI solutions to radically accelerate product development and go-to-market speed, including sustainable design optimization, rapid prototyping, NLP-based product description automation, and multimedia content generation (copy, images, video).
- AI-enhanced customer interaction through intelligent agents that deliver immersive and transparent brand journeys—integrating sustainability data, ethical choices, and circular options into the shopping experience.
- Intelligent automation for operational discontinuity: market intelligence, competitor analysis, merchandising optimization, process efficiency, and resource consumption reduction across the enterprise.

 

CUSTOMER RELEVANCE & CUSTOMER-CENTRIC SOLUTIONS
- Hyper-personalized experiences based on behavioral, lifestyle, and values-driven data—embedding sustainability preferences and ethical decision support into discovery and conversion.
- Radical trust-building solutions combining transparency, verified impact information, traceability, and digital product passports to counter greenwashing, increase loyalty, and reshape brand credibility.
- New business models enabling ethical consumption at scale, including circular participation models (repair, resale, rental, take-back), product-as-a-service, dynamic pricing for sustainability, and incentive mechanisms that reward responsible behavior.
- Education and engagement solutions accelerating the cultural shift toward sustainability—leveraging community, content, gamification, and data-driven nudges to make ethical consumption intuitive and desirable.
- Omnichannel, phygital and immersive experiences (AR, virtual try-on, gamification, IoT sensory engagement, assistive technologies) that elevate inclusivity, accessibility, and the seamless connection between physical brand experience and digital journeys.

 

E-COMMERCE & DIGITAL SALES INNOVATION
- Next-generation commerce experiences integrating sustainability as a conversion lever—impact-aware merchandising, transparency-by-design, and frictionless access to circular services at checkout and post-purchase.
- Seamless omnichannel integration harmonizing retail and digital touchpoints, enabling consistent experiences, personalization, and cross-channel circular journeys (returns, repair, resale, rental).
- Smart logistics, fulfillment, and reverse logistics innovations to reduce delivery emissions, optimize returns, and enable closed-loop flows across partners and markets.
- Digital tools for enhanced product visualization, interactive storytelling, and immersive multimedia—supporting informed purchasing decisions and increasing engagement through personalization and transparency.

 

PRODUCTION FORECASTING, CYCLE ACCELERATION & DATA INTELLIGENCE
- Predictive analytics and real-time decisioning to optimize forecasting, inventory, and production planning—reducing stockouts and overproduction while lowering environmental impact.
- Technologies to shorten the production cycle and time-to-market, including 3D-based digital sampling, rapid prototyping, automated procurement, and AI-enabled trend forecasting linked to adaptive production.
- Data-driven quality optimization improving durability and lifecycle performance, supporting circularity, reduced returns, and long-term consumer value.
- End-to-end visibility and traceability systems integrating sales, social, supplier, and sustainability impact data to increase responsiveness and enable measurable ethical and environmental outcomes.

 

DATA ACCURACY, GOVERNANCE & TRUST
- Trusted data ecosystems ensuring high data quality, interoperability, and auditability—enabling credible sustainability measurement, lifecycle transparency, and cross-stakeholder decision alignment.
- Secure governance models for IP, privacy, and sensitive supply chain data—unlocking open innovation collaboration without compromising competitive advantage.
- Automated reporting and compliance infrastructures reducing manual errors, fragmentation, and regulatory risk through standardized ESG-ready data models.
- Transparent accountability layers supporting ethical sourcing, responsible production, and measurable sustainability performance across the ecosystem.

 

ROBOTICS, AUTOMATION & INDUSTRIAL SCALING
- Robotics-enabled manufacturing discontinuity: automation of sewing, stitching, cutting, and garment assembly to increase precision, improve working conditions, and reduce cost barriers for sustainable production.
- On-demand and mass-customization models enabled by robotics and 3D printing to reduce overproduction, improve fit and satisfaction, and lower waste through made-to-order manufacturing.
- Supply chain automation transforming warehousing, sorting, packing, and shipping—accelerating fulfillment while enabling reverse logistics and circular operational models.
- Robotics and automation supporting sustainable material processing and recycling—reducing textile waste, improving energy efficiency, and scaling circular manufacturing capabilities.

 

NEXT-GENERATION MATERIALS ADOPTION & SCALABLE SUSTAINABLE PRODUCTION
- Breakthrough material innovation (bio-based, regenerative, recycled, next-gen synthetics) combined with scalable industrial pathways to move from lab validation to mass-market adoption.
- Monomaterial design and production strategies enabling radical recyclability, improved sorting, and closed-loop manufacturing.
- Technologies and manufacturing innovations reducing water, energy, chemicals, and emissions—while maintaining performance standards and cost competitiveness.
- Enablers to scale adoption of new materials at sustainable costs, including supply chain readiness programs, qualification/testing protocols, and digital traceability of material composition and provenance.

 

We encourage bold innovation hypothesis that challenge conventional industry assumptions and explore new ways of leveraging technology, artificial intelligence, and data to build a more resilient, customer-centric, and competitive Swiss Fashion & Lifestyle ecosystem.

 

YOUR BENEFITS
  1. Participate in a transformation journey contributing with new innovation hypothesis and the possibility to co-create and test new potential and radical solutions in the Fashion & Lifestyle Industries
  2. Pitch to a dedicated jury on June 17th, 2026, with the opportunity to be funded with up to CHF 28'000.- to test the potential of your idea for its desirability, feasibility or viability (e.g. desirability assessment, feasibility study, POC realisation)
  3. Get the support of top Industry experts and methodological best practices
  4. Participate in events, dedicated workshops and trainings on innovation topics
HOW DOES IT WORK

STEP 1:

  1. Fill in the form to join the program starting from February 12th, 2026 https://share.hsforms.com/1s1eQUUz_SiufBLfh4TjXFA4m7jf 
  2. In the form describe your innovation hypothesis defining it briefly in the dedicated field
  3. Confirm your availability to participate in-person in the mandatory workshop on May 5th, 2026 – ‘Challenge Your Ideas’ in Lugano
  4. Submit your Innovation Hypothesis on the jointcreate platform by April 21st, 2026

Required fields:

STEP 2:

  1. Your submission will be evaluated by the Innovation Booster Team
  2. You will be notified with the result
  3. Innovation Teams formation will be facilitated to find the best research or implementation partner if not already present

STEP 3:

  1. Participate in the Co-creation Workshop 'Challenge your ideas' in Lugano on May 5th, 2026
  2. Industry problems and challenges will be explored to discover the underlying assumptions
  3. Collaboration among different stakeholders and experts will support you with Design Thinking methodology to co-create ideas for radical solutions

STEP 4:

  1. Submit your refined idea by April 21st, 2026*

*Guidelines will be shared during and after the 'Challenge your ideas' Workshop to ensure a proper submission before the deadline.

STEP 5:
  1. Once all the Innovation hypothesis have been gathered after the April 21st, 2026 deadline and refinement phase, the jury of the Innovation Booster Fashion & Lifestyle program, which includes experts and decision-makers from the industry, will vote for the best ones to join the final step of the competition, the Pitch Day.

STEP 6:

  1. An optional virtual workshop, Innovation Arena, will take place on June 3rd 2026 to help you enrich and refine your idea, preparing for the Pitch Day on June 17th, 2026.

STEP 7:

  1. Pitch Day: on June 17th, 2026, submitted ideas will be pitched to the program Jury and the selected 5 winning ideas will be awarded with ≈ CHF 28'000.-
  2. The awarded ideas will be announced on June 22nd, 2026

IMPORTANT

An Innovation Hypothesis is a potential new approach to solve an existing Industry problem, to be further explored and developed with the help of experts and fellow innovation team members during the dedicated workshop on May 5th, 2026.

This is a call for challenges and not a call for ideas.

The program focuses on the very first stages of the innovation funnel to seek new approaches to solve current Industry problems with the objective of idea testing.

WHO CAN APPLY

You can apply between February 12th and April 21st, 2026 if you are a:

  1. Start-up/Scale-up
  2. SME
  3. Large organisation
  4. Any company offering products, services or process implementation
  5. Non-profit organisation
  6. Association
  7. University research institute
  8. Non-commercial research centre
  9. Departmental research institution
  10. Federal research institute

NOTE: Innovation teams must be formed to pitch the idea on June 17th, 2026 and be funded. Innovation teams consist of at least one research partner and one implementation partner. Please state in the form if you already identified an Innovation team partner.

APPLY NOW!

The Call is open from February 12th to April 21st, 2026.

Tell us more about how you would like to address a mentioned industry challenge and participate in the Workshop 'Challenge your ideas' on May 5th, 2026 in Lugano to:

  1. Develop a new product, service, process or business model
  2. Make a positive impact on the Swiss Fashion & Lifestyle industry and society
  3. Be aligned with our core values expressed in our Manifesto: Sustainability, Diversity, Inclusion and Equality, User-centricity, Trustworthiness and Collaboration
  4. Have the opportunity to work with industry experts and leading researchers in Switzerland and co-create new potential and radical innovative ideas
  5. Be funded and test the potential of your idea at the Pitch Day on June 17th, 2026

For more information, please contact us at: info@ibfashionandlifestyle.ch