Ten startups in the finals of W. A. de Vigier Award

The Jury of the W. A. de Vigier Foundation has announced the ten startups that will compete in the final round. New skin from the lab, a tool for cleaner cities and an online assistant for children are just three out of the ten solutions, that represent the innovative power of Swiss start-ups. Five of the ten startups will each be endowed with CHF 100,000.

In February, the jury selected their Top 16 from over 160 submitted projects. At the „Presentation Days“, on March 30 and 31, the Top 16 were narrowed down to ten nominees. "The selection of the 10 nominees has not been easy for the jury", says Regula Buob, CEO of the W.A. de Vigier Foundation. "At the same time we’ve never scrutinized the start-ups as closely as we have this year“, she continues.

This year the foundation put emphasis on training CEOs to equip them with leadership skills. “The CEO, who is a trained coach, has an in-depth one and a half hour conversation with the CEOs of the nominated start-ups. From now on we want to give more weight to aspects like leadership, personality and entrepreneurship“, elaborates Buob.

The Ten Nominees are:

certus diagnostics AG (biotech), Zollikofen: Certus developed the isoAMP, a methodfor fast on-site detection of pathogens such as herpes or influenza viruses within only 30 minutes.

Cortexia AG (ICT), Châtel-St-Denis: Cortexia offers a management tool which delivers objective data on urban cleanliness using intelligent cameras.

Cutiss (biotech) from Zurich): CUTISS is developing personalized skin grafts for patients that suffer from skin defects.

CyanoGuard AG (Foodtech), Schlieren: established as a spinoff of the University of Zurich, CyanoGuard developed innovative rapid tests for the reliable detection of toxins and harmful substances in waste products of the chemical industry, in food and blood.

IRsweep AG (medtech), Zurich: IRsweep created a spectrometer which combines high measuring speed and brightness in an unprecedented manner.

MaxWell Biosystems AG (ICT), Basel: MaxWell develops and distributes the advanced electrophysiology cell-imaging platform for high-throughput assays to accelerate drug development.

Optimo Medical AG (Medtech), Biel: Developed “Optimeyes” technology to make surgical procedures on the human cornea safer and more precise.

Privately AG (ICT),  Lausanne: the startup developed a personal online-safety assistant “OYOTY” to make surfing the internet safer for kids.

SKYPULL (Cleantech), Lugano – developed a lightweight and compact wind-based electricity generation system for more renewable power.

Vibwife GmbH(medtech), Nidau: designed a mattress-system that actively mobilizes and supports women during natural birth.

Five most outstanding startups will be selected and each awarded the W.A. de Vigier cash prize CHF 100,000 during the award ceremony on 18 May 2017.

 (RAN)