Building on the international success of its Aktiia spin-off, the CSEM aims to spawn the double of winning startups in the future. To reach this ambitious goal, the Swiss Based Technology Innovation Centre led by Alexandre Pauchard intends to rely on a growing pipeline of talented entrepreneurs.
In parallel of successfully supporting the Swiss industry, CSEM has taken on a new challenge. The Swiss public-private, not-for-profit technology innovation centre is shifting into high gear when it comes to supporting start-ups. As Bahaa Roustom, responsible of the CSEM ACCELERATE platform explains to Startupticker.ch, CSEM spin-off successes are mostly the result of talented hard working entrepreneurs. With this in mind was created the Accelerate Platform to attract and foster the talent to spawn the next generation of winning start-ups.
Internally, CSEM offers up to three Innogrants of CHF 100,000 each year to encourage its employees to realize and develop a project. This initiative allowed for example Mattia Bertschi and Josep Sola to leverage 15 years of research to successfully commercialize Aktiia's proprietary cuffless optical blood pressure monitoring technology (oBPM™) and contribute to the prevention of high blood pressure. In November 2021, the spin-off closed a Series A Financing Round of USD 17.5M to fuel its growth in the United Kingdom, Ireland, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, France and Italy.
Externally, CSEM encourages yearly up to 5 aspiring entrepreneurs with booster grants to start up new ventures that incorporate their technologies. Selected candidates get access to CSEM mature technologies and infrastructure as well as a salary at the Swiss Research Center. In return, the CSEM will take an equity stake in the future startup. Interested entrepreneurs can apply to the Start-up Booster Grant.
The latest Accelerate success story comes from Marie Didier, an EPFL alumnus who worked at CSEM for two years before launching her startup MATIS (Monitoring Art with Technology, Innovation and Science). Putting an end to misinterpretations, incorrect attributions and million-dollar forgery scandals in the art market, the Neuchâtel-based ArtTech, is applying deep tech and AI technology to revolutionize the way artworks are identified and to support art experts in their daily diagnostic task of authenticating paintings. Today the company is winning over its first clients.
Interestingly, Bahaa Roustom is convinced that by fostering entrepreneurship and enhancing entrepreneur skills, the Accelerate Platform will attract fresh talent to our economy in the years to come.
(ES)
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