Winner 2023Aura System srl, Milan, Italy - Italy's first breathing green wallAura specializes in developing "breathing" green walls that effectively eliminate a wide range of unhealthy and dangerous pollutants commonly found in closed environments. With a commitment to using natural elements, Aura's walls ensure high sustainability and circularity throughout the product's entire life cycle. Designed to seamlessly integrate with indoor environments, Aura's walls provide many physical and mental benefits to occupants, including CO2 and volatile organic compound absorption, noise reduction, and positive interactions with plants. This energy-efficient solution also holds immense potential for reducing emissions in large buildings as Aura believes that biotechnologies are essential tools for environmental transition, offering greater efficiency than mechanical solutions with the potential for zero environmental impact. The company's vision is to bring greenery to urban areas and harness the potential of biological systems which also have a natural connection with human beings.
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Hexem SA, Le Châble, Switzerland - High performance biogasHexem has minaturized wastewater treatment. Our technology allows the recovery of biogas and clean water. It is at least 20x smaller than traditional technologies, which allows deployment on Mars. Hexem's technology does not require oxygen, a scarce resource on Mars.On Earth, industries producing high strength wastewater have an incentive to treat their wastewater by saving treatment costs and producing carbon neutral biogas. Hexem’s main users are in the food and beverage industries such as dairies, breweries, wineries and others.Hexem has developed a TRL 5 prototype which removes organic matter from wastewater up to 20 kg/m³/day while producing pure biogas. Five potential clients, engineering firms and dairy companies, have signed letters of interest. | |
![]() | SEPARATIC, Fribourg, SwitzerlandSEPARATIC develops a novel membrane design where adsorbent material is incorporated into the membrane. One of the gases in the mixture will interact with an adsorbent and stick to it while the other one(s) will pass through. This design can be used for direct capture of CO2 from the air or the emissions sources. The concept has already been tested this concept on the lab scale and has obtained initial successful results. The idea is to put these membranes in a module in series and run air (or any potential gas) through it. For instance, CO2 in the air will stick to the adsorbent material while N2 and O2 will pass freely. After capacity has been reached, the CO2 can be released back by simple heating under a vacuum, and the system can be reused again. Captured CO2 will be put back into the economy to contribute carbon cycle and possess an additional value. |
![]() | Stat Peel, Glarus, Switzerland - Material Selective Detection SystemStat Peel is a Swiss manufacturer of a material-selective aerosol detection system which uses the latest sensor, wireless and data analytics technology to protect people and facilities from potentially harmful contamination. Our easy-to-use system monitors human exposure to airborne particles so companies can use novel nanomaterials with peace of mind. Though originally designed to monitor CNTs and graphene, the Identifier system is also able to detect different types of minerals, metal oxides and polymer particles specifically among harmless background particles. |
![]() | UMAMI, Zurich, Switzerland - Inspired by NatureChanging climate, land and water scarcity pose an incremental challenge to feeding a continuously growing world population. At Umami, we are determined that food can be sustainably produced, even in non-conducive or extreme environments. To this end, we built an aquaponic, vertical farm located in the heart of Zürich. With a permacultural approach, we created an ecosystem with a diverse set of organisms living in synergy, while utilizing all advantages of traditional vertical farming. Each of these organisms contributes to the ecosystem by transforming waste products into a resource for other species. As a result, we created a well-balanced environment so abundant in nutrients that we do not need to add external resources such as fertilizers, artificial pesticides, or antibiotics. |