SwissLeg makes walking easy

The winners of the Fidelity Future Impact Prize were announced last week at the inaugural Partnering for Global Impact conference in Lugano. Sponsored by Fidelity Worldwide Investment, the awards support ideas that have the potential to become future solutions to global social problems. A large number of social entrepreneurs from around the world entered the competition, presenting a range of innovative early stage business ideas. Partnering for Global Impact, in collaboration with HUB Zürich, selected the group of outstanding early stage entrepreneurs and the finalists presented their project ideas live in front of a jury.

 

Lugano-based start-up SwissLeg was awarded first place, winning prize money of CHF12,500 for its model to provide affordable prosthetics to amputees using an innovative low-cost, high-performance design. Founded by Mohammad Ismail, Roberto Agosta and Paulo Gonçalves (director of the Humanitarian Logistics and Management executive master’s programme at the Università della Svizzera italiana), the company believes that walking is a human right that should be affordable to all people worldwide.  

 

Existing prostheses are either very expensive, designed to meet demand in the developed world, or low cost but very uncomfortable and of poor quality. According to WHO, 80% of the 32 million amputees in the world live in developing countries and only 5% of those are fitted with a suitable prosthesis. SwissLeg’s innovative design using light and durable materials offers these amputees comfortable, affordable artificial limbs. The simple, fast manufacturing process combined with low-cost, readily available materials means the patient can literally walk out of the workshop the same day. SwissLeg intends to launch a number of prosthetic leg production and rehabilitation centres in the developing world.