InnoBooster accelerates four new projects

During the next one and a half years, the selected InnoBooster projects will each receive CHF 150’000 to accelerate their development. The program, which supports university-based, high-potential business cases from the Venture Kick program, will additionally avail experts to the teams allowing them to achieve the next milestones in their startup journey.

The following projects received the funding

eightinks – Paul Baade, ETH Zurich
The demand for lithium ion batteries is growing exponentially driven by electric vehicles –the manufacturing capacity will increase more than 10-fold over the next decade. The global car battery market size is projected to hit around 200B$ in size by 2030 with solid-state batteries in particular growing at a CAGR of 89.5%. Eightinks sees this as a unique opportunity to shape new industry standards since scalable manufacturing remains the biggest challenge for solid-state batteries. To ensure that the transition towards electric transportation is sustainable, eightinks has patented multi-layer curtain technology that allows for cutting production costs and implementing a sustainable battery, which is recyclable by design.

Solaxer – Anna Krammer
There is more energy used for process heat in the industrial sector than for electricity worldwide. Today, this demand is almost entirely met by fossil fuels with industrial heat accountable for 20% of global CO2 emissions annually. Solaxer is a cleantech start-up which directly contributes to the objectives of Sustainable Development Goals by targeting the emerging market of Solar Heat for Industrial Processes (SHIP). The startup aims to become the leading supplier of high-performance receivers for concentrating solar collectors. Receivers are the key component of concentrating solar collectors being responsible for the absorption and efficient conversion of solar radiation into heat. Solaxer receivers are coated with a selective absorber coating with superior durability and optical performance to existing technologies. The coatings are deposited through a patented, cost- and energy-efficient manufacturing process.

Recolony – Ana Montalban-Arques,
Colorectal cancer (CRC) is the third most common cancer and the second leading cause of cancer mortality worldwide. In advanced stages, 5-year-survival rates are below 15%. Recolony found that specific bacteria that are reduced in the intestine of CRC patients compared to healthy controls are sufficient to trigger anti-tumour immune responses in CRC mouse models as well as in models for melanoma, breast and lung cancer. Results show that immune infiltration into the tumour is enhanced when the bacteria are applied. This may circumvent the problem of current immunotherapies, by which tumours with low immune-cell infiltration cannot be effectively treated. As this novel therapeutic approach is purely based on commensal bacteria, the startup expects high safety and tolerability, minimizing the side effects of current anti-tumour therapies. Moreover, these characteristics could qualify this therapy to be used to both treat and prevent CRC.

a-metal – Stephan Steiner & Andreas Kuster, ETH & FHNW
Majority of the SMEs or inexperienced enterprises still cannot use additive manufacturing technologies. Especially for metal-based AM technologies, machines are very expensive, very big and the handling is unsafe. A-metal aims to make metal 3d printing more accessible to the broad industry. Thanks to its affordable, compact, and safe machine solution, the startup enables SMEs, small R&D departments, and the education sector to enter into professional metal 3d printing. The machine can be operated by any person with an artisan background and does not need a cleanroom environment, which reduces infrastructure costs.

(RAN)