Four Swiss startups to explore China

The IPIEC GLOBAL pitch contest is an entrepreneurial and innovation contest organised by WTOIP, China’s leading tech-novation platform for IP and corporate services. Aiming to bridge outstanding ideas and innovation from overseas to the promising China market, the competition offers selected startups a business development week in China, including meetings with Chinese companies, industry clusters and investors in multiple cities across China.

In collaboration with WTOIP, which opened its European offices in Geneva, Venturelab hosted the Swiss chapter of the IPIEC Contest. The award attracted more than 30 applications from startups developing innovative AI, advanced manufacturing, big data, biotech, energy and IoT technologies. Ten finalists pitched before the audience.

The jury of Sino-Swiss startup experts and investors nominated three Swiss startups that will proceed to the IPIEC GLOBAL pitching competition in December to contest for an international prize of $100,000. As part of their Swiss chapter prize, the winners will travel to China for a two-week roadshow through some of the Chinese megacities including Suzhou, Xian, Chongqing, Shenzhen, Dongguan, Foshan, Guangzhou, and Hainan.

The winners are:

BioVersys
The increasing resistance against existing antibiotics is causing a major public health concern which has been also aired by the WHO. The Basel BioverSys developed a TRIC technology (Transcriptional Regulator Inhibitory Compounds) that will make it possible to restore the efficacy of established antibiotics. The technology will facilitate the development of new treatments against life-threatening bacterial infections that emerged in recent years due to the resistance of bacterial strains against existing antibiotics. To date, the company is focusing on the development of treatments for Nosocomial Infections (hospital infections) and Tuberculosis.

Flyability
founded as a spinoff of the EPFL flyability has grown to become the leading provider of indoor inspection and exploration drones for inaccessible and confined spaces. Its first drone, Elios has already been deployed at over 350 sites to inspect critical infrastructure in a wide range of industries. This year the startup launched the Elios 2 which features more advanced features and a completely redesigned software suite that streamlines data management for planning and reporting.

Topadur
the startup developing of innovative drug therapies for severe wound healing in diabetic patients, where wound healing is severely impaired and often results in chronic, non-healing wounds.

Haikou National High-Tech Incubator awards Medyria
The fourth winner Medyria, which uses blood flow sensors to localize the position of a catheter within the human body received the Haikou National High-Tech Incubator prize which includes a week-long market exploration trip through Hainan's startup ecosystem.

(RAN)