With InnoBooster funds towards market entry

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08.04.2019
Gregory Hitz, Claudia Hoessbacher, Fabio Oldenburg & Dimitrios Terzis

Four additional startups have joined the InnoBooster program to accelerate development of their deeptech business ideas and market entry. The program offers support package of up to CHF 150,000 for a maximum of 1.5 years.

The InnoBooster program is an initiative of the Gebert Rüf Stiftung dedicated to supporting university-based, high-potential business cases from the Venture Kick program. With an annual budget of CHF 2.5 million, the program aims to enable selected startups with a solid business plan to speed up time-to-market.

To achieve this objective, the selection team screens and identifies startups with the highest potential to receive a financial boost of up to CHF 150,000 for a maximum time of 1.5 years. In February the first cohort joined the program, and now, four additional startups from different technology fields have been selected.

They include:

Sevensense Robotics is developing a localization system for indoor environments to enable professional service robots to measure their position with a high level of accuracy and to navigate precisely and safely in dynamic environments such as in indoor spaces, where global positioning systems (GPS) are unavailable. Similar to the human eye and inner ear, these system processes images from cameras and an inertial measurement unit to construct a map of the surroundings and pinpoint their position on the mapWetrok, one of the largest providers of professional cleaning solutions, has already developed a professional scrubber dryer robot that is equipped with Sevensense technology. 

Polariton Technologies – the Zurich based startup is developing the world's fastest and smallest electro-optic devices called plasmonic modulators that are used to encode electric signals onto light for the next generation of optical communication. Unlike conventional optics which are likely to become a bottleneck in today’s communications, Plasmonics take advantage of the coupling of light to electrons at a metal surface, thus offering significantly smaller device sizes and higher speeds to keep pace with the increasing internet traffic. This solution is applicable in the fields of video streaming and cloud computing.

Gaia Membranes – aiming to provide the most-affordable technology for energy storage, the startup has developed the first ion exchange membrane product to boost the efficiency of VRFBs (vanadium redox flow battery) by up to 15 percent, hence bridging the gap to lithium-ion batteries. Moreover, the versatile membrane technology allows Gaia to develop products that boost the efficiency of fuel cells, water electrolyzers, and other related applications. The team is now preparing to increase production and start pilot projects. 

MeduSoil – the EPFL spin-off applies the world’s first ground bio-stabilization technology to solve mainstream construction problems. By combining traditional construction practices with lab-developed, nature-based biochemical carriers, the startup offers solid foundation earth to secure the stability of infrastructures against threats such as soil erosion, landslides and earthquakes. The technology also to reduce application costs, minimize equipment requirements and increase long-term resistance against failures and environmental threats. The technology is applicable across various engineering fields in urban and coastal environments. Medusoil is at the moment building its own on-site operations unit.

The InnoBooster committee is accepting new applications until 01.05.2019.

(Ran)

Photo L-R: Gregory Hitz, SevenSense; Claudia Hoessbacher, Polariton Technologies; Fabio Oldenburg, Gaia Membranes;  and Dimitrios Terzis, MeduSoil.

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