PIPRA wins the W.A. de Vigier Award 2022
Solothurn, June 22, 2022. From over 200 submitted projects, seven young Swiss CEOs received a W.A. de Vigier Award, each endowed with CHF 100,000. The winning projects range from electronics with a sense of smell, to early diagnosis of neurodegenerative diseases as well as super precise polymer 3D printing.
„This year we were able to hand out seven awards instead of five. The sixth award is given by our former president Dr. Daniel Borer and his family, the seventh prize is donated by a W.A. de Vigier alum that wishes to remain anonymous. We are deeply grateful to these two parties and are of course very happy to support even more young Swiss entrepreneurs“, says Carmen Lamparter, COO of the W.A. de Vigier Foundation.
“This mentality of helping others to co-create success in new ventures is something we wish to see more of in the Swiss startup ecosystem and it fills us with great pride that for the second time in recent years, one of our alumni donates a prize”, says André Hoffman, President of the Foundation Board.
PIPRA AG from Zurich (ZH) – AI-Based Test to Assess Risk of Cognitive Disorders After Surgery
Postoperative delirium (POD) is a severe cognitive complication occurring in 20% of surgical patients aged 60+. There are no treatments once symptoms arise. Instead, the focus is on prophylactic interventions, which are too costly to offer every patient. PIPRA developed an AI-based preoperative risk prediction software that identifies patients who are most at risk and will benefit from targeted prophylactic intervention, thereby improving patient outcomes and saving costs for hospitals.
About the W.A. de Vigier Awards
The W.A. de Vigier Award is the oldest award for young entrepreneurs in Switzerland and, with annual prize money of up to CHF 600,000 (six times CHF 100,000), is one of the most highly endowed startup prizes in Switzerland. Over the past 33 years, the foundation has distributed over CHF 11 million of seed money. The results are about 100 flourishing startups, successful IPOs, multiple company exits and above all, many newly created jobs.
The following aspects are relevant for the evaluation of the projects: The entrepreneurial personality, the degree of innovation, the value for society as a whole, the technical and financial viability, market prospects and the potential for job creation.