Book an Appointment
3 Of The 4 Start-Ups From The Current ACCELERATE Program Of The Swiss Center for Electronics and Microtechnology (CSEM) Are Led By Women
The start-ups which were selected for the Swiss Center for Electronics and Microtechnology (CSEM) Accelerator program could soon revolutionize our everyday lives.
Visienco, Protonica, Watchibia and TrueYouOmics have qualified for the current ACCELERATE program of the Swiss Center for Electronics and Microtechnology (CSEM) and will be further developed at CSEM from now until 2026.
Visienco, Protonica, Watchibia, are the three of the four start-ups which are led or co-led by women.
With MATIS, a very successful women led startup from the last accelerator program, CSEM is demonstrating a great commitment to excellence and diversity. And it shows again how innovative female founders are!
In this years selection, one of the innovative projects was developed internally at CSEM. The other three ideas came from external entrepreneurs who have now been hired by CSEM. All of the projects promise solutions with a major impact on our society.
Please join me in congratulating the 4 start-ups selected & wish them a successful future!
A quick summary of the start-ups:
Visienco – Accelerating drug development through automated organoid sorting?
Imagine a future in which organoids – mini replicas of organs – are used to speed up the development of new drugs and significantly reduce the need for animal testing. This is the vision of Visienco, developed by Lucie Jandet and Jonas Goldowsky. Their automated sorting technology, developed in collaboration with CSEM experts, will standardize drug development research and further promote the use of these microtissues.
“The support from CSEM is immensely important for us, not only because of the technological expertise, but also because of the networking with potential partners and customers,” explains Lucie Jandet.
Protonica – booster for cancer therapies
Proton therapy is seen as the future of cancer treatment. Its advantages are undeniable: not only does it significantly reduce side effects compared to conventional treatments, it also opens up the possibility of treatments in individual sessions. Protonica is a start-up idea developed by Veronica Leccese at CSEM and her colleagues Benoit Truc and Michele Caldara at EPFL. They have set themselves the goal of making proton therapy even more efficient and accessible to everyone.
“We want to improve the precision of the proton beams to ensure optimal treatment,” explains Veronica Leccese.
Watchibia – your classic watch becomes smart
Imagine a smart watch strap that is perfectly compatible with your favorite classic watch. This is exactly what Watchibia, the innovative start-up by Olga Nijpels-Tishurova, offers. Its aim is to develop a unique wristband that can be used to monitor health parameters without having to do without a classically elegant wristwatch. With interchangeable, smart watch straps, Watchibia is responding to a growing demand on the watch market.
“We want to offer watch manufacturers the opportunity to combine the timeless elegance of traditional watchmaking with the modern functionalities of connected watches. Thanks to the CSEM’s expertise and reputation in this field, we are ideally equipped to meet this challenge” – Olga Nijpels-Tishurova.
TrueYouOmics – what if you knew your health status 5 years in advance?
Unlike traditional blood counts that focus on a limited number of markers, Andres Lanzos and his colleagues Kevin Yar and Dominic Mehr want to give everyone a more accurate insight into their current and future state of health. By measuring thousands of proteins and billions of potential mutations, they want to predict disease risks with unprecedented precision and relate them to the individual’s current state of health.
“By combining DNA, RNA and protein analysis with our powerful algorithms, we are well on the way to developing a solution for the most accurate prediction of disease risk. Its name is TrueYouOmics,” – Andres Lanzos
Two modules, one goal: economic growth thanks to technology innovation
Since its foundation, CSEM has spawned over 50 start-ups. Some of the most recent are already highly successful on the market, such as Aktiia and also female founded MATIS, demonstrating the added value and growth potential of these emerging companies.
CSEM is particularly proud that this year one of the selected projects will be led by engineers already working at the Technology Innovation Center. In addition, three of the four projects are led or co-led by women, demonstrating a commitment to excellence and diversity.
The next round of calls will run until the end of January 2025, and interested entrepreneurs can submit their candidacy online if they would like to be part of the next cohort receiving support from CSEM.
