Recognition for Swiss innovation

The first accolades were bestowed onto two personalities for their achievements. 

Women in Database Research Award
Anastasia Ailamaki, Professor at EPFL’s School of Computer and Communication Sciences (IC) and CEO & Co-Founder at RAW Lab, has won the Women in Database Research Award for ‘pioneering research on the interaction between hardware micro-architecture and database engine performance’. Her research interests include data-intensive systems and applications, particularly in strengthening the interaction between the database software and emerging hardware and I/O devices, and in automating data management to support computationally-demanding, data-intensive scientific applications. She is currently working on developing real-time analytics infrastructures – or real-time intelligent systems – that incorporate change as a core premise. Ailamaki was also elected as a member of the Academy of Europe, an association that aims to advance excellence in science and research for public benefit and education.

EU Prize for Women Innovators 2020
Even after her exit to Boehringer Ingelheim, Madiha Derouazi, founder and CEO of Amal Therapeutics continues to collect accolades for her achievements. Madiha is one of the three winners of the EU Prize for Women Innovators that will receive a €100,000 cash prize for their achievements. Madiha founded Amal Therapeutics with the aim to develop therapeutic cancer vaccines. Before its acquisition by Boehringer Ingelheim for EUR 325 million, the company had raised more than €40 million in venture capital in addition to grants.

Young Green Tech (YGT) – China
YGT is a global competition offering mentorship, a platform to foster networking and exchange with companies to gain hands-on experience and insights into various fields as well as a bootcamp to foster transformation. This year’s cohort of most attractive solutions announced at the Global Youth Green Innovation Summit, includes two Swiss startups; the Lausanne based Bloom Biorenewables transforms plants into renewable materials and energy to substitute detrimental petroleum-derived products in markets such as fragrances, materials, plastics or textiles. SmartHelio, also based in Lausanne leverages its teams’ decades of experience in the solar PV industry to help companies and their customers to maximise the return on investment for solar.

European customer-centricity awards - global
Guuru and Brack, from Switzerland, are among the winners of the Europan Customer Centricity Awards, selected from over 130 finalists from across Europe. Guuru combines artificial intelligence with the knowledge of the product users to enable automated, efficient and cost-effective customer service around the clock, thanks to its SmartBot. Brack is a Swiss e-commerce platform founded by Roland Brach, one of the jury members in the Swiss edition of ‘Höhle der Löwen’.

Greentech Awards - Europe
Swisspod has been named one of the top green European startups in the Greentech Awards, which recognises the most promising cutting-edge innovation that contributes to environmental protection and resource conservation. Swisspod uses high-end engineering & technology to accelerate the way we travel in a fast and sustainable fashion.

“With a fossil fuel-free solution, our goal is to create the most efficient and sustainable Hyperloop capsules regardless of the type of infrastructure. Speed is killing the planet, it’s time to focus on efficiency!”

(RAN)