Mars Wrigley, Nasa, the Ethereum foundation and the City of Paris rely on Swiss start-ups

For decades, the Cocoa Swollen Shoot Disease (CSSD) has been infecting cocoa trees creating an acute problem for the cocoa and chocolate industry, as it can reduce cocoa yield by up to 70%. Until now, no efficient methods to quickly detect the presence of the virus in field in asymptomatic plants had been found. Swiss agrifood testing company SwissDeCode, in collaboration with Mars Wrigley, has created an on-site test that is designed to detect the virus in asymptomatic trees in less than 60 minutes.

Built on SwissDeCode’s DNAFoil proprietary technology, and incorporating underlying research from Mars Wrigley, the new solution is an easy-to-perform testing kit that would enable field personnel to quickly test cocoa trees, using their leaves as samples. Once field validations have been successfully completed, the kit will be ready for largescale use. «We have been looking for reliable preventive solutions against CSSD since the 1940s, as each year cocoa farms are being increasingly affected by this virus. Joining forces with SwissDeCode, we have finally found a rapid and reliable on-site diagnostic!” says Jean-Philippe Marelli, Senior Director Integrated Pest Management, Mars Wrigley.


Meteomatics is global collaborator at NASA’s Space App Challenge 2021

On October 2-3, 2021 NASA is inviting coders, entrepreneurs, scientists, designers, to participate in a virtual hackathon--The NASA International Space Apps Challenge. Participants from around the world will create virtual teams and use Earth observation data from 10 different space agencies, and have access to Meteomatics API to develop solutions to issues our world is facing. Meteomatics has agreed to become a global collaborator providing weather data and helping participants solve challenges set by the NASA Space Apps Team.


Taurus collaborates with the Ethereum Foundation to review Ethereum 2.0 security.

In May 2021, the Ethereum Foundation selected Taurus to lead a security review of Ethereum beacon clients, which are the applications powering the "Ethereum 2.0" updates, in collaboration with Tomsk University (Russia) and UCL (UK). After 3 months of work and intense scrutiny of Ethereum's code and specification, Taurus published a full report few days ago, disclosing 35 security issues and improvement proposals.


Transforming sound in information about traffic in Paris

Paris2Connect aims to demonstrate how a shared urban digital infrastructure can meet the growing needs of the Smart City. To achieve this, the members of the consortium (ATC France, Aximum, Nokia, RATP Group, Signify), in close collaboration with the City of Paris, have unveiled the first six use cases. Among them is the acoustic-based mobility observatory by the Swiss start-up Securaxis. With the project, Paris2Connect wants to transform sound into information to study the traffic and its environmental impact. With two sensors installed in each traffic direction of the Quai d'Austerlitz, it is possible to detect specific sounds (electric or combustion vehicles), to provide alerts (exceeding sound thresholds) and analyses through acoustics (sound footprint of two-wheelers).

(SK)