On Thursday, 26 September, the Swiss Excellence Product Award ceremony of the Swiss Excellence Foundation took place at Technopark Winterthur. For around three hours, visitors were able to immerse themselves in innovations from various sectors and experience the ideas of tomorrow at first hand. The highlight of the evening was the award ceremony for the SME and start-up prize, in which the companies XRnanotech and irmos technologies AG came out on top.
Technopark Winterthur was filled with innovation and human ingenuity on Thursday 26 September. For around three hours, visitors had the opportunity to take part in workshops and then attend the eagerly awaited award ceremony. The Swiss Excellence Product Award is presented annually to an outstanding start-up and an SME. This year, XRnanotech and irmos technologies AG came out on top in a strong field of competitors. Particularly pleasing for Technopark Winterthur: winner irmos technologies AG was once based in the RUNWAY Incubator and the finalist Hi-D Imaging is now a tenant at Technopark.
Start-up prize winner irmos technologies AG
The Startup Award of the evening was given to irmos technologies AG, a company that specialises in monitoring the service life of buildings and bridges. Using a limited number of low-cost sensors developed in-house, they record the vibrations that occur in the structure. These sensors are attached directly to the structural elements and measure vibrations caused by, for example, wind or traffic. The intelligent monitoring platform from irmos uses modern AI tools to translate these vibrations into meaningful condition data. Based on this data, maintenance planners can assess the condition of the structures more accurately and determine the most efficient remedial measures in a targeted manner.
SME Award winner XRnanotech
XRnanotech, one of the leading Swiss manufacturers of high-quality X-ray optics, won the SME Award. The company offers a wide range of innovative products, including Fresnel zone plates with a high aspect ratio and record-breaking resolution, ultra-stable diamond optics and customised 3D nanostructures. These solutions are used for a wide range of X-ray applications and are characterised by maximum precision and stability.
Strong field of nominees
It was already clear in advance that choosing the winners in the start-ups and SMEs categories would be no easy task. In addition to XRnanotech and irmos technologies AG, the start-ups 4QT and Hi-D Imaging as well as the SMEs abc biopply ag and GF Machining Solutions were also nominated. All four finalists were honoured by the Swiss Excellence Foundation with a well-deserved certificate.
World Café with genisuisse
Before the award ceremony, visitors had the opportunity to meet the nominated companies at an exhibition and learn about their innovations. The pre-event was accompanied by a World Café organised by genisuisse. A big thank-you goes to genisuisse for organising the World Café and to TPW-Bistro powered by mimicus for the Apéro Riche.
The pictures in the article were produced and provided by Peter Brandenberger – www.im-licht.ch
