Switzerland defines regional innovation systems (RIS) as "functional economic spaces - usually supracantonal and even cross-border in some cases - where networks of important actors for innovation processes, such as companies, research and education establishments, as well as public authorities".[3] The Swiss New Regional Policy (NPR) [4] influences the development of RIS since it supports the RIS governance and management, whose activities encompass services intended for start-up and SMEs: point of entry, networking platforms, cluster development and coaching.