GSEA Switzerland sends C-MedTec to South Africa

The Global Students Entrepreneur Award (GSEA) is a worldwide competition of the European Organisation (EO), organised in more than 50 countries. This year, Switzerland celebrated the 4th edition of the GSEA award, bringing fifteen student projects into the competition. Six most outstanding projects made it to the finals. In this year's edition, the founders’ personality, in addition to the novelty and feasibility of their solution, was a decisive factor in the jury selection.

The jury bestowed a cheque of different denominations to the three winners;

The first place winner Hana Samet, co-founder of C-MedTec, received a cash prize of CHF 5000. The founder will also participate in the EO GSEA Global Finals 2020 in Cape Town, South Africa. The pre-clinical stage startup is designing a helmet (cap) for monitoring and diagnosis of brain concussion. Unlike existing solutions, which involve the use of a pen and paper test, C-Metc’s cap is based on an innovative technology that is capable of measuring brain metabolism and picks up undesired neurological behaviour after the brain has been exposed to a shock. The solution allows for early detection and diagnosis hence prevention of long-term effects and chronic diseases resulting from concussions.

The target customers for C-Medtec’s helmet are Medical centres, governing and sports associations. As revealed by Samet during the award ceremony, the company has already won the trust of large significant sports associations. It has also entered collaborations with sports clubs in the Romandie region.

Second and third place winners

The second winner is Leonie Flückiger, founder of Adresta, a startup specialising in digital certificates for the watch industry, mainly to protect second-hand buyers from purchasing counterfeits. The white-label solution includes all parties involved in the watch ecosystem, such that every touchpoint in the life cycle of a watch is stored, secured, encrypted and digitally mapped. The startup has already attracted its first customers. The startup received a cash prize of CHF 2000 in addition to in-kind prizes.

The jury bestowed the third-place prize on to Adrian Bertschi, founder of SmartBreed, a startup that is developing an intelligent and fully-automated box for breeding grasshoppers. Due to their high protein content, low maintenance and positive impact on the environment, consuming grasshoppers will help to address the foreseen global population challenges such as food scarcity. SmartBreed is collaborating with an undisclosed organisation to test the breeding box.


Photo: L-R: Adrian Bertschi, SmartFeed, Hana Same, C-Medtec and Leoni Flückiger, Adresta.

(RAN)