W.A. de Vigier Foundation awards start-ups

The W.A. de Vigier Foundation has given awards to six start-ups this year. Three of these come from the canton of Zurich, including for instance dimpora AG, which develops a membrane for sports clothing. Unlike usual solutions, this does not contain any fluorine compounds, but it keeps pace with other membranes in terms of watertightness and breathability in spite of this.

Additionally, Zurich-based LEDCity AG and Lumiphase AG from Kilchberg in the canton of Zurich were among the winners. LEDCity AG has developed an intelligent lighting system that can reduce energy costs from commercial buildings by around 40 percent. The start-up fits light sources with sensors and algorithms to automatically regulate the lighting. Lumiphase AG develops optical communication chips to handle growing data traffic. They aim to speed up processes while decreasing energy consumption.

The other three winners are two companies from western Switzerland, Testmate Health and Volumina Medical, as well as cellvie, a company based in the canton of Thurgau. Testmate Health develops self-tests for the four most common sexually transmitted diseases. Volumina Medical develops an injectable implant for minimally invasive breast reconstruction after cancer. Cellvie develops a treatment that restarts cells’ energy metabolism after cell damage. Cells can be damaged by a heart attack, for instance.

The W.A. de Vigier advancement award is the oldest award for start-ups in Switzerland. This year, a total of 217 projects were submitted. To date, five winning projects have been chosen each year. Thanks to a donation from the former President of the W.A. de Vigier Foundation, Dr. Daniel Borer, and his family, an additional award was possible this year.