Country Guide: Switzerland

Switzerland is in the heart of Europe, borders 5 countries, has 4 official languages, about 8 million inhabitants and a long list of startups, initiatives and organizations in the collaborative consumption space.

TRANSPORTATION & MOBILITY

Switzerland has an excellent transportation infrastructure and public transport system and multiple sharing initiatives complement the offering on land and on water.

Boats

• Sailbox: A sharing opportunity unique to countries with lakes or access to the sea! Become a member of Sailbox and enjoy a sunny day on one of the many lakes of Switzerland: sailbox.ch

Sailbox – rent a boat

Cars

• Sharoo: Rent cars or electric cars in your neighbourhood. sharoo.com
• Mobility: One of the world’s oldest car sharing: Switzerland has always been a pioneer in car sharing. Mobility started car sharing 1997 in Switzerland, today they have close to 1400 stations all across Switzerland. www.mobility.ch

Mobility car sharing – a Swiss tradition since 1997

Parking

• Private parking: Cities like Zurich are clogged and a parking spot is on average free for only about 2-3 minutes. Two startups, parku and parkit, make it possible to find and book private parking spots.

Bikes

• Bike sharing stations: Join one of the public bike sharing programmes, such as Publibike or RentABike and benefit from access to bikes in large cities across Switzerland.
• Free Bike sharing: The association “Schweiz rollt” supports free bike sharing stations in cities. The stations are also integrations projects offering work for long-term unemployed. Schweiz rollt exists in multiple Swiss cities including Zurich, Berne, Thun, Geneva, Neuchatel and Valais. schweizrollt.ch

Rides

• Hitchhike: Find someone to share a ride with whether you are going to work or to an event: Hitchhike.ch
• Tooxme: Join the realtime hitchhiking community and earn money for every km you are driving with or without a passenger: tooxme.com

Logistics

• BringBee: Avoid an unnecessary shopping trip, crowdsource your delivery. Simply write your BringBee shopping list and get your shopping delivered when and where you want it by a verified BringBee near you. bringbee.ch

BringBee – Crowdsourced deliveries for your shopping

SKILLS & SERVICES

Switzerland is one of the richest countries with one of the highest living standards in the world. No wonder convenience is popular.

• Rent a rentner: Find a senior citizen near you on Rentarentner to help you cook, water your plants, walk the dog or play with the children: rentarentner.ch
• Mila: Find trusted people around you for anything from cleaning, to moving or yoga classes. mila.com
• Jacando: Find qualified help or offer your skills for little side jobs in your city. jacando.com
• Skillharbour: Inspire people around you with what you can do and share your skills: skillharbour.com
• Atizo: Do you need creative input and some fresh ideas for your project? Leverage the power of the crowd. Start a brainstorming project on Atizo and award a prize to the best idea. Atizo.com

STUFF

Don’t let things go to waste or sit idle on your shelf. Share with your community, recycle and reuse things.

Everyday articles

• Rent stuff from your community: List everything you own online and rent it out to people in your neighbourhood, for example on Sharely or Shrebo.
• Pumpipumpe: Offline sharing made easy. Get stickers of things you share and put them on your door or mailbox. pumpipumpe.ch
• BringundNimm: This great initiative from Basel encourages reusing and recycling in the neighbourhood. Bring something to the swap box and take something you like. Check for bringundnimm.ch
• Batte.re: Never buy new batteries. Simply get the batte.re subscription and get batteries replaced and recharged with renewable energies on a regular basis. battere.ch

Sharely – rent everyday things in your community

Furniture & Home Accessoires

• Brockenhaus: This Swiss institution has the largest selection of 2nd hand products. Find a store near you in the Brocki registry

Clothes:

• PLV: Sell pre-owned clothes on PLV
• Walkincloset: Join one of the upcoming clothes swap events. Visit walkincloset
• Texaid: Donate your old clothes and textiles to charity. Find a collection place close to you www.texaid.ch
• Caritas: Buy second hand clothes at one of the many Caritas shops: caritas-secondhand.ch

Find a Texaid Container and donate your clothes

FOOD

The way to someone’s heart is through his stomach! Enjoy eating and growing food together.

• Cookeat: Invite other people for brunch, lunch or dinner. Offer a meal on cookeat.ch.
• Local farming: Join a local farming community and grow and enjoy veggies throughout the year from your own little plot. Two examples are dunkelhölzli and ortoloco in Zurich.

HOUSING

• Housetrip: Apartment, House or guest room. Share it on housetrip with travellers: housetrip.com

MAKER SPACES

Meet and make! These workshops offer the opportunity to create your DIY project with the help of other makers in your community.

• 3D Printing Meetup: Bring a beer, bring a 3D model, bring your 3D printer and make something together. Join the next 3D Meetup
• 3D Hubs: Find a 3D printer near you: 3dhubs.com
• Fablab: Join one of the many fablabs to learn how to use 3D scanners, 3D printers or laser cutters and create something unique. Find a lab near you on the Fablab registry

SOCIAL ACTIVITIES

• Spontacts: Connect with people nearby for spontaneous activities: spontacts.com

MONEY

Are you looking for financing for your startup or your next concert? Get crowd-investment!

• Crowd-investment: Get the attention of private people and business angels with c-crowd or 7crowd.
• 100days: List your project and meet your financing goal in 100 days.
• Wemakeit: wemakeit is a Swiss-based crowdfunding platform for art, music, film, design and other creative projects. Support a local project and get a personal invitation, signed products, limited editions as a thank you. wemakeit.ch

EDUCATION

• Sprach-Tandem: Find a native speaker near you to practice your foreign languages: sprach-tandem.ch

To learn more about the Swiss sharing economy please follow Sharecon, the association for the Swiss sharing economy: sharecon.ch