Swisscom StartUp Challenge honours three deeptech start-ups

240 companies from more than 30 countries applied for the 11th Swisscom StartUp Challenge. Ten of them were selected for the final and pitched today in front of a top-class jury consisting of representatives from Fastweb, ETH, Venturelab and Swisscom in Zurich.

The winners are:

Irmos Technologies aims to maximize the safe operational life of existing bridges based on data. While every second bridge in Europe has exceeded its expiration date, maintenance today relies on visual inspections. As a result, maintenance is often insufficient or expensive. Irmos’ solution empowers engineers to monitor the structural health of bridges, reducing maintenance costs and environmental impact and at the same time improving safety.  The solution translates monitoring data to key structural metrics, enable to continuously monitor the structural integrity and allows data-driven projections for predictive maintenance planning.

Swistor is a Cleantech start-up developing innovative energy storage devices for consumer portable electronics, autonomous IoT sensor nodes, space applications and at a later stage for the grid. The EPFL spin-off technology enables ultra-fast charging supercapacitators based on nano technology that combine high energy storage capabilities with high-power delivery capabilities, to enable the next generation of energy storage devices and provide a long lasting and environmentally friendly solution that aims to make energy storage sustainable. A typical application would be an IOT-sensor charged with a solar cell eliminating the need to change the battery.

Synthara is a semiconductor company working on a new breed of edge-AI chips. Synthara’s approach is called in-memory computing, processing power is embedded within the memory itself. From an interface standpoint, Synthara’s offering appears like typical memory; it is thus called ComputeRAM. The Synthara team integrated this ComputeRAM in a compact 2×2 mm chip in a novel type of architecture. They also produced a software development kit that allows users to optimize the entire system for applications such as AI or signal processing without requiring any low-level understanding of the hardware. This results in a 50-fold increase in computing power and efficiency. Synthara’s unique selling point lies in its ability to deliver in-memory computing in a non-disruptive manner. Chip manufacturers utilizing Synthara’s semiconductor intellectual property (semi-IP) can seamlessly integrate it without altering their existing infrastructure. The usual division of labour in the industry can remain unchanged too.

The winners will participate in a business acceleration program in Silicon Valley which will be organized for each team individually and will get the chance to explore collaboration opportunities with Swisscom. In addition, the program will put winners in contact with investors including Swisscom Ventures. 

For Isa Müller Wegner, Chief Group Strategy & Development at Swisscom since June 2023 and a member of the Challenge jury, selecting the three winners from a total of 240 applicants and 10 top, dedicated finalists was no easy task: "II am very pleased that all three winners have amazing solutions ready for the challenges of our time. This proves once again the innovative power of our start-ups – let’s let them make us great."

Focus topic deep-tech

This year's Swisscom Startup Challenge underlines the growing importance of deep-tech in Switzerland and worldwide. Although Switzerland is one of the world's innovation champions internationally and produces a large number of research results and highly developed technologies, there is still a need for improved financing options for the commercialisation of these innovations. Swisscom is therefore actively committed to establishing Switzerland as the "Deep-Tech Nation Switzerland" on the world map of innovation.

The Swisscom Startup Challenge is a step on this path to increase the visibility of researchers and entrepreneurs, strengthen the ecosystem and create a more conducive investment climate.

(Press release / SK)
Picture: Isa Müller Wegner, Marchus Dahlén (Swisscom Outpost) and the winners