More ideas for fewer paragraphs

“5vor12 – Preis für schlaue De-Regulierung” is the name of a competition launched by Beat Brechbühl, Andreas Gerber and Jobst Wagner to honour ideas for the best de-regulation proposals. We talked to Beat Brechbühl (Managing Partner at Kellerhals Carrard) about why such a prize is needed and what parallels can be drawn to a startup.

ESSENCE RELATIONS: With 5vor12 you have introduced a prize for smart de-regulation. Why is such an award needed?

Beat Brechbühl: There is an ever-growing catalogue of regulatory dos and don’ts. This governmental micro-management suppresses common sense, reduces the need for self-responsibility and limits our freedom. We need to fight against this development. With this award, we tackle the problem in a positive and playful way, creating incentives to generate proposals for solutions to the problem of over-regulation.

Can you give us a (fictitious) example of what you mean by smart de-regulation?

The possibilities are so diverse that I can even give you some very specific examples from recent months: The proposals to get rid of the contractual obligation and increase the minimum franchise in the healthcare system would qualify if it could be demonstrated (e.g. by means of a study) that the regulatory jungle in the healthcare system would thereby be reduced. Or the motion of the Committee for Economic Affairs and Taxes (WAK), which demands a clear separation of powers in the financial market (parliament is responsible for regulation, FINMA focuses on its supervisory activities) would be a good candidate, if passed by parliament, because then the impact on the target would also be close at hand. Or take an idea that a manager in the public sector had: If a member of the board can demonstrate how his tasks can be carried out in another way, he can retire early – if he shows how his job can be made redundant, he can leave one to two years earlier. The idea as such is captivating, but to win the prize, one would have to be a step further in the implementation – either already have a use case or at least be able to show that the idea is in the process of being implemented. As these examples show: it’s not about popular ideas, but about effective ones. And everyone can participate, be they a municipal employee, a member of the business community or a cantonal politician.

“5vor12 – Preis für schlaue De-Regulierung“ will be awarded for the first time this year. So the ideas competition is to some extent a startup. What are the associated challenges?

We face similar challenges to any startup: we need to promote our product, the prize and convince both our sponsors, as well as potential participants that this concept is not only new and – in our opinion – somewhat original, but will also have a positive effect on curbing regulation. The initiators and the core team are all committed to making this experiment a success.

More information about the competition can be found at www.5-vor-12.ch.