Every year, the Entrepreneurship Center of the University of Bern runs the STAGE UP Business Creation Competition, where start-ups compete with their business ideas. This year, 54 projects were submitted for the competition. Of these projects, five are selected to present their business model at the STAGE Up Competition to an audience and jury with the top three being awarded a collective prize of CHF 18,000.
At this year’s competition, two start-ups from the ARTORG Center ecosystem won first and second place:
First place went to GoRehab, a young start-up developing out of the Gerontechnology and Rehabilitation (GER) research group. Founded by PhD candidate Nic Krummenacher and ARTORG Venture Fellow Dr. Samuel Knobel, GoRehab is developing the sensor-based, egg-shaped DextEgg device, which is designed to support fine motor training. The project is supported by an UniBE INNO Grant and the UniBE Venture Fellowship, and the start-up was also recently selected for the Digital Health Accelerator. More information about the project is available here.
Second place went to PolaSight, a spin-off from our Artificial Intelligence in Medical Imaging (AIMI) laboratory. Co-founded by AIMI group head and ARTORG Director Prof. Raphael Sznitman, senior scientist Dr. Pablo Márquez Neila, PhD student Davide Scandella, and Roi Finish, PolaSight is working on a fast, non-destructive alternative for histological exams during surgery. The spin-off received funding support from the Venture Kick Foundation.
Read more about the STAGE UP Awards in Bern here (in German).
