The event will take place on Wednesday the 2nd of September at 10am-11am (Swiss Time) / 4pm – 5pm (UTC+8), for one hour of presentations, panel discussion and Q&A, with our distinguished speakers:

Roberto Reniero, Managing Director, Nestlé R&D Centre in Singapore 
Alex Ward, Head of Innovation APAC, Givaudan
Seck Yee Kwang, Director of Food and Consumer Cluster, A*STAR, Singapore

ScanTrust, a connected goods platform for companies that depend on selling physical products in a connected world, has developed an integration to the material traceability option for SAP Logistics Business Network. The solution gives food and beverage brand consumers the ability to track the end-to-end provenance of their food.

Over the last ten years, large, global food producers have been steadily losing market share to smaller, local brands mainly due to the loss of trust in the food industry. Addressing these challenges, ScanTrust, the developer of patented QR-codes and the global software solutions provider SAP have partnered to develop end-to-end, farm-to-consumer material traceability solutions for the SAP Logistics Business Network.

The solution enables brands to collect and trace batch-level information on raw materials, ingredients and finished products. Among other benefits, brands can use this to identify which products are affected by product recalls instantly. 

Thanks to the integration with the Scantrust connected goods platform, this data can now also be linked to a unique ScanTrust QR code, which is printed on product packaging and made available directly to end consumers. Scanning codes with a smartphone enables brands to deliver compelling stories around the provenance of their products, gain valuable data and insights on consumer behaviour based on QR codes and create a direct communication channel with consumers.
With the integration and the combined solution offering, ScanTrust and SAP together accelerate digitization in the food chain. It is expected that as more projects come online, the benefit of being able to connect directly to consumers will pay for itself, both as a win for brands and for consumers.

“Right from the start, we saw a great fit and complementarity between the material traceability option for SAP Logistics Business Network and the ScanTrust connected goods platform”, says Nathan Anderson, CEO of ScanTrust. “This integration is a great milestone that will unlock significant value for both, SAP’s and ScanTrust’s customer base and enable us to deliver real value to the food industry and empower consumers.”

(Press release)

Following the new cut-off, seven Swiss startups have confirmed the receipt of grants under the European Innovation Council (EIC) programme. The startups each obtained above two million Euros to facilitate their projects.

The Enhanced European Innovation Council (EIC) Accelerator (previously known as SME Instrument) supports top-class innovators, entrepreneurs, small companies and scientists with bright ideas and the ambition to scale up internationally. The programme focuses on market-creating innovations that shape new markets and generate jobs, growth and higher standards of living. From 5 June 2019, the EIC Accelerator offers blended finance in the form of an optional investment in equity in addition to the grant. Successful companies have also access to a range of business coaching and acceleration services.

For the March 2020 cut-off, the European Commission received approximately 4,000 applications for EIC Accelerator Pilot programme out of which 70 were selected for funding. The following Swiss startups have already concluded the contract.

Resistell AG – received a €2.5M grant to advance the development of its world’s fastest phenotypic antibiotic susceptibility test (AST) which is based on measurement of vibrations of living bacteria using nanomechanical sensors. The cutting-edge technology reduces the AST time-to-result from several hours or days to less than two hours, and patients can be treated with the optimal dosage from day one.

EH Group Engineering – obtained €1.48m to boost the development of its innovative fuel cell technology and bring it to mass commercialisation. Addressing the cost factor associated with commercialising fuel cell technology, EH Group aims to influence the market by achieving significant cost reductions and hence more rapid industrialisation of hydrogen-based technology. The product is applicable in commercial buildings, data centres among others.

LIGENTEC – is developing NEBULA, a new R&D project aiming to provide the foundations for a common future-proof transceiver technology platform with ultra-high bandwidth capabilities offered by a CMOS compatible toolkit. The project is tailored towards meeting performance, cost and energy metrics in both inter-DCI coherent and intra-DCI ASIC co-packaged optics.

Swissdecode – was awarded 2.5 million Euro grant for the development of an automated, on-site food testing device that will allow food companies to quickly detect and react faster to irregularities such as food adulteration or contamination.

Postrigo – is developing ultra-compact Positron Emission Tomography (PET) systems for the brain for early detection of neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's. The system will be accessible to a broad population. The company received a grant of EUR 2.2 million.

From the past cut-off in 2019, two more startups have also confirmed the receipt of EU Horizon2020 funds.

CREAL3D – is developing a patented light-field technology that generates truly 3D hologram-like images, thereby solving the eyestrain and pain problems of current headsets. Likewise, technology increases the immersion of users and allowing conflictless mixing of virtual and real worlds. The startup obtained €2.3 for the project.

MINESPIDER GMBH – Founded in 2018, Minespider is an open blockchain protocol and DApp for creating digital certificates to track minerals along global supply chains. The company received €2.3 million from the program.

(RAN)