>>venture>> 2012 announces 10 winners and 20 finalists

The Jury of >>venture>> 2012 is happy to report that the 10 winners are a diverse group of teams, drawn from 8 industries. Also, the jury noticed an encouraging trend towards greater diversity in school affiliation, and would like to warmly welcome the newest members of the >>venture>> community from the University of Zürich, the University of St. Gallen, and the universities of applied sciences (“Fachhochschulen”). Furthermore, participation from the French-speaking part of Switzerland increased. 

The 10 finalists are:

Abionic: The start-up from Lausanne is developing a portable device with the potential to revolutionize allergy diagnostics. Abionic’s novel technology meets the technical and cost requirements of the point-of-care diagnostics market (typically physician offices and pharmacies).  

Agilentia: With onlineAGM, its first product, Agilentia supports the traditional organization of AGMs of public companies with electronic new invitation, registration and participation procedures. Well-known companies such as Nobel Biocare and Aryzta are already among its customers. 

AppAware (42matters AG): The term ‘social app discovery’ illustrates what the app from 42matters AG of Zurich does. AppAware shows in real time which programs other users recommend, or have installed or deleted on their Android device. So now it’s easy to find the really good apps among the hundreds of thousands.

Bcomp: The high-tech materials from Bcomp consist basically of vegetable fibers, and are both light and robust. While the first products have been successfully launched within the Sports & Leisure industry, Bcomp has proven the potential of its technologies in a wide range of applications and markets. 

OsmoTech: The aim of OsmoTech is to provide data centers and other industries, such as chemical plants or incinerators, with a profitable and sustainable method of recycling their waste heat to generate electricity. The distinguishing element of the technology is that it is able to operate at temperatures below 100°C.  

Phocone: The spin-off from ETH Zurich develops continuously tunable laser modules emitting in the mid-infrared wavelength region. The laser modules are very well suited to spectroscopic applications, a commonly used technique for fast, sensitive and precise measurement of gas concentrations – for example, in breath analysis.

Sophia Genetics: Genetic information plays a pivotal role in the diagnosis and treatment of many diseases, and allows a personalized healthcare management. Sophia Genetics offers individuals, healthcare providers, researchers and the pharmaceutical industry secure storage and analysis of patient genome sequence information.

Swissto12: Swissto12 opens the frontiers of terahertz applications with a comprehensive range of products that covers the terahertz transmission and probing domain up to 10 Terahertz. Possible applications range from imaging techniques in medicine to telecommunications.

Rayneer: The software from Rayneer analyzes the Facebook profile of a user, and on this basis puts together a personal television program. The first service is a music television that automatically displays the favorite clips of the viewer.

Uepaa Swiss Alpine Technology: The Zurich-based start-up’s core technology turns smartphones into alpine tracking, alert and rescue devices, which connect to other phones directly without the need for a telecoms network. It’s made possible by a disruptive wireless peer-to-peer technology.

The other ten finalists are: Appetini, Comment.li, Dolfinos, Immodating, KB Medical, Mabimmune, Pandora Underwater Equipment, PLAIR Solutions, Sanovation and Sunshine Energy.

Further information can be found in the >>venture>> booklet.

All teams are present at the second >>venture>> award ceremony that will be held in the evening at ETH Zurich. At the event will also the main winner of the competition be announced.