01.06.2026 | Events |

ARTORG Day 2026 — A Celebration of 18 Years of MedTech Innovation!

On Wednesday, 27 May 2026, the ARTORG Center celebrated its successes of the last 18 years with an all-day event featuring presentations from researchers, start-ups, MedTech companies and representatives from the canton, the university and the medical faculty of Bern.

ARTORG Day 2026 was a day of celebration. With this event, ARTORG celebrated the successes of the past years, the remarkable breadth of research at our center, and the incredible people who have made this journey possible. Together, we looked to the future with a shared vision: advancing innovation to deliver even better care for patients.

Representatives from the Canton, University and Medical Faculty of Bern take the stage

We were honored to have representatives from the Canton, the University and the Medical Faculty of Bern open the ARTORG Day in the welcome address, sharing their perspectives on the ARTORG Center.

Mr André Nietlisbach, General Secretary of Economic Affairs of the Canton of Bern, highlighted the economic context and noted the integration of the ARTORG Center in the innovation of the Canton of Bern.

Prof. Dr. Virginia Richter, Rector of the University of Bern, spoke to ARTORG’s role as a strategic center of the university as well as its origin, highlighting its unique constellation not just in Switzerland but the larger European context.

Prof. Dr. h.c. mult. Claudio Bassetti, Dean of the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Bern, presented the ARTORG Center’s place within the faculty and the close collaboration with clinicians this placement enables.

Picking up on these threads in his opening talk, ARTORG Director Prof. Dr. Raphael Sznitman looked back on the center’s 18-year history and highlighted what made its success possible: a foundational initiative to foster collaboration, creativity and innovation. Presented as the path from planting a seed to harvesting the apple, he illustrated the fruitful partnerships necessary to bring innovative ideas to fruition – and ultimately into the clinic.

Prof. Dr. Silvia Schievano gives her Keynote Speech

Following these opening words, it was our great pleasure to welcome Prof. Dr. Silvia Schievano from the University College London as our first keynote speaker. In her talk “Computational modelling in congenital heart disease: challenges and opportunities for translation to medical practice,” she spoke about her work in congenital heart disease, the challenges she seeks to address in her work, and the opportunities that arise thanks to gaining interest of regulatory bodies in this area. She placed strong emphasis on the underdevelopment of medical devices and tools to treat congenital heart disease in children.

Presentations from young ARTORG researchers

The ARTORG Center would not be where it is today without its researchers. To honor their significant contribution to the center’s success, six researchers from the ARTORG community were invited to present their work. Thomas Bucher, PhD candidate with the Neuro Robotics Group, Dr. Cornel Dillinger, research fellow at the Urogenital Engineering Group, Lubnaa Abdur Rahma, PhD Student in the Artificial Intelligence in Health and Nutrition Laboratory, Marta Colmenar Herrera, PhD Student at the Artificial Intelligence in Medical Imaging Laboratory, Dr. Franca Schmid, SNSF Ambizione Fellow with the Cardiovascular Engineering Group, and Dr. Maria Kotini, visiting senior researcher with the Organs-on-Chip Group, gave presentations about their research.

The broad variety of ARTORG research on display

The event continued after a lunch break with poster presentations, where visitors could individually roam the exhibition rooms, study over fifty research posters, ask questions directly to the researchers and have them present their work in a 2-min pitch.

A second Keynote Speech by Prof. Dr. Pascal Verdonck

After this interactive poster session, it was our pleasure to invite Prof. Dr. Pascal Verdonck from the University of Ghent in Belgium to the stage for our second keynote speech. In his talk “Disruptive innovation is transforming our healthcare: an engineering perspective,” Prof. Verdonck talked about his career-spanning experience working in and with the global healthcare sector, what challenges it had and still faces, and the necessary disruptive and transformative approach to address these issues.

Successful results of ARTORG's Start-Up Pipeline

A cornerstone of the ARTORG Center is the innovative and transformative aspect, which is reflected by the start-up and spin-off companies that have found their origin within the ARTORG Center’s research groups. We were pleased to welcome speakers from three of our spin-offs to present their companies and how they came to be.

Carlos Ciller, Co-Founder and CEO of RetinAI, a product of our Artificial Intelligence in Medical Imaging Laboratory, presented the company and its long way to success since its foundation in 2017. RetinAI employs deep learning for big data use in therapeutic decision making and was recently acquired by EssilorLuxottica, marking the first major commercial exit of an ARTORG origin start-up and the first ever acquisition and exit of a University of Bern MedTech spin-out to a global industry leader.

Stefan Aebischer, Head of Finance and Administration at CASCINATION AG, presented one of our earliest start-ups, which originated in our Image-Guided Therapy research group. The company focuses on image-guided and robotic surgery for precision medicine applications. He spoke about product development, important decisions regarding discontinuation of products and finding the right product at the right time.

Silje Ekroll Jahren, Co-Founder of TightValve, a young start-up developed out of our Cardiovascular Engineering Group, presented the company which is developing the first surgical device for measuring valve leakage during heart surgery. She spoke about their current activities in the process of development with the incorporation of the company and the first human trials on the horizon.

Awards for Presentations and Posters

Bringing ARTORG Day 2026 to a close, ARTORG Group Heads Prof. Dr. Tobias Nef and Dr. Philipp Aebischer announced the winners of the Best Presentation and Best Poster awards. Of the six presentations, Maria Kotini, visiting senior scientist with the Organs-on-Chip Group, won the Best Presentation Award. Of the 53 poster presentations, Marcel Allenspach, PhD candidate in the Neuro Robotics Group, won the Best Poster Award.

Sponsors and Exhibitors made this day possible

This event would not have been possible without the support of our silver sponsors Cadfem, CASCINATION, CCMT and RetinAI. We are grateful for your support of ARTORG Day! A big thank you also goes to our exhibitors, who presented their work and products, which our visitors were able to explore and learn about during break times: Alexis Technologies, AlveoliX, Cadfem, Keraccurate, contourAID, CliniSciences, GoRehab, IMPLANZ, AvaFlow, TightValve, PeriVision, RetinAI, SonoStent, Urodea, Neosoma and ValTech Lifesciences.

Couldn’t make it to ARTORG Day this year?

Join us next year for a joint BME & ARTORG Day on May 20–21, 2027!

uniAKTUELL Article — ARTORG Center: From Idea to Product

Innovation Stories — From Incorporation to Exit: Carlos Ciller shares insights on building RetinAI / Ikerian

ARTORG Center for Biomedical Engineering Research