Three startups in the spotlight

The Digital Agriculture for Sustainable Food Systems Award, organised by EIT Food, the Landesanstalt für Landwirtschaft (LfL) and Siemens, went to Vivent. The Lausanne-based start-up developed state-of-the-art sensors embodied in plant monitoring hardware to deliver real-time data on plants. Thanks to its accuracy, the sensors allow farmers to understand their plant’s needs in different environments. The platform notifies the respective farmer via SMS or email when plants fall out of their natural growth rhythm so that the grower can react as quickly as possible. The grower receives notifications when the plant returns to its normal state.

The solution is today used on tomatoes and cucumbers, and more plants will follow as the company advances and enhances its solution. Vivent has previously run multiple tests with different clients, including a pilot phase at Siemens Technopark Ruhstorf and on LfL test plots in February this year. It has projects in eight countries worldwide and will soon launch in Germany. The CHF 10’000 award prize that was bestowed on Vivent thus recognises the company’s innovation in the digitisation of agriculture.

Amal Therapeutics: European Inventor Award for Amal Therapeutics founders
The European Patent Office has recently revealed the winners of the European Inventor Award, selected by an independent jury comprising leading experts in their fields. Amal Therapeutic’s team led by Madiha Derouazi and Elodie Belnoue are among the winners. At a European level, Swiss founders also impressed juries.

The founders developed KISIMA, a new medical platform that facilitates the making of therapeutic cancer vaccines that help the immune system recognise and destroy cancer cells in a patient’s body. The platform allows assembling three essential components to produce vaccines that generate a robust immune response: tumour-specific antigens to prompt an immune response, a molecule to help boost this immune response, and a cell-penetrating peptide to deliver this cargo into the cells. The vaccines are designed to be used with drugs that activate the immune system and complement rather than replace surgery, chemotherapy and radiotherapy.

Bloom Biorenewables: Swiss Ethics Award
The 17th edition of the Swiss Ethics Award recognises individuals for their commitment in the fields of business ethics and sustainable and sustainable development. Among the four winners is the cleantech start-up Bloom Biorenewables which impressed the student committee and won the Student’s favourite start-up award category. Based in Renens (VD). Bloom manufactures products from plant by-products to meet the needs of industry players that want to reduce their dependence on fossil resources in markets such as perfumes packaging or materials.

(Press release/RAN)