EIC Accelerator grants for Swiss deeptech startups

The EIC Accelerator (SME Instrument) is part of the European Innovation Council (EIC) pilot that supports top class innovators, entrepreneurs and small companies with funding opportunities and acceleration services. The main focus of the EIC Accelerator (SME Instrument) is on market-creating innovations that shape new markets and generate jobs, growth and higher standards of living. 

The following startups are among the recent grant recipients. Each of them will receive an amount between € 1.6 million and € 2.5 million.

Proton Technologies: The most secure collaboration suite in the world
ProtonMail, founded in 2013 in Geneva by a group of CERN, Harvard and Caltech scientists, develops secure communication channels for consumers and businesses.  To date, more than 7 million users worldwide rely on the user-friendly encrypted email services. The company is already signing agreements with important government agencies in the Vatican, Germany and Croatia, as well as with large enterprises. During the SME instrument phase 2, the company will focus on expanding its offer to secure cloud storage and productivity tools, along with implementing a revolutionary encryption key management system based on blockchain technology.

DHP Technology AG: Redefining Solar Technology with Retractable Solar Power Folding Roofs
Founded in 2015 in Graubünden, DHP Technologies developed the first and unique feasible application of photovoltaics in wastewater treatment plants (WTPs). Its flagship product, Horizon, is a worldwide, unparalleled retractable folding solar roof that can be utilised in already commercially exploited spaces such as parking lots, storage and logistics facilities, as it enables the production of solar power through dual usage. The folding roof automatically avoids poor weather and retracts itself into a central garage, in an aesthetic, lightweight and economical manner. Horizon can be integrated into current and future trends such as IoT, smart mobility and smart grids. This SME Instrument grant will enable the company to further unlock the potential of photovoltaics for waste-water treatment plants towards self-sufficient plants.

Interax Biotech: Disruptive GPCR lead discovery platform delivering new and safer therapeutics
Established as spin-off from the ETH Zürich and the Paul Scherrer Institute, InterAx Biotech, has built PICARD, an innovative and unique lead discovery platform for the design and selection of better drug candidates. PICARD combines a systems biology approach with experimental data and uses artificial intelligence methods to design novel compounds with the desired properties. This holistic approach differentiates PICARD from technologies now used in the pharmaceutical industry.

Nanoga SA: Quantum Photonic Digital-Ink Solution for Large Format Displays
The Ecublens based Nanoga developed Nanodink, a solution that will enable the cost-effective transformation of TVs into whiteboards and the TV retains its original functionality allowing normal video viewing. The technology eliminates accidental activation (that is. palm rejection) synonymous with the most dominate touch technologies, namely capacitive, resistive and infrared technologies. As it fully eliminates the need of extensive circuitry, sensors, and control electronics, Nanodink significantly lowers the production cost of interactive displays and technology can be embedded on any display glass, therefore enables the cost-effective development of large screens above 60 inches in size designed with very narrow bezels. Nanodink will be delivering a scalable, cost-effective solution with minimum power and processing impact, enabling direct interaction between a user and video display.

 (RAN)