Young talents are shaping Switzerland's digital future
The race for the 'NextGen Hero' award reached its climax last night at the awards ceremony. Two digital heroes and two digital heroines faced each other in the final. We present the winners.
The 'Digital Economy Award' took place for the fourth time on 16 November 2023. In front of the assembled Swiss ICT scene, ten winners from 32 finalists in six award categories were honoured for their outstanding achievements in Zurich's Hallenstadion. These included Jessica Farda, a student at the University of St.Gallen, and Lucas Renfer, a student at Bern University of Applied Sciences. After a 90-second live pitch of their projects 'Noriware' and 'Auto-Mate Robotics', they were voted the youngest winners in the 'NextGen Hero' category by the hall audience.
Who are these young personalities and what projects have they been able to convince the specialist audience with? In this interview, they talk about their visions and plans.
Switch: Dear Jessica, congratulations on winning the NextGen Hero Award. Please briefly explain what your winning project is about.
Jessica Farda: Noriware produces algae-based packaging material that does not harm our environment.
What vision are you pursuing with this?
On the one hand, we enable every brand to package their products sustainably. On the other hand, we want to use algae-based packaging wherever plastic is not necessary as a packaging material.
Why do you think Noriware prevailed over your competitor in the eyes of the salon audience?
Our project is certainly in tune with the times. And plastic is often in the media at the moment. Those are probably the most important reasons.
How big is your start-up at the moment?
We now have six full-time and two part-time employees. We also work together with a three-person R&D team from the University of Applied Sciences and Arts Northwestern Switzerland FHNW.
What stage of development is your innovation at?
We are currently carrying out initial trials with larger batches with our production partner. We will then start customer tests in January 2024. I'm not yet allowed to reveal which specific product is involved.
What are your future plans with Noriware?
We want to expand into the Swiss market first. However, we will only have a major impact when we can launch our materials on the Asian or African market.
What advice would you give young students to help them win the NextGen Hero Award next year?
If you've done something cool that can have an impact, then you get the necessary visibility here. I'm very grateful for that.
Switch: Dear Lucas, congratulations on winning the NextGen Hero Award. Please briefly explain what your winning project is about.
Lucas Renfer: With Auto-Mate Robotics, we are bringing robotics closer to people who don't have much programming knowledge. This enables them to programme robots independently so that they can take over monotonous and automatable tasks.
What vision are you pursuing with this?
We want to revolutionise the programming of robots and thus support SMEs in their automation.
Why do you think Auto-Mate Robotics prevailed over your competitor in the salon audience?
That's difficult to say. The Swiss economy was very well represented in the room and we offer an economical solution, especially for SMEs, which also addresses the shortage of skilled labour. That probably appealed to many.
How big is your start-up at the moment?
We are three people, so we are still very small.
What stage of development is your innovation at?
We want to launch our product on the market next year. After a lot of internal testing, we are now starting next week with tests in a real environment and with employees on-site. We want to find out where we need to make improvements before the market launch.
What are your future plans for Auto-Mate Robotics?
Of course, the market launch next year is very important for our entire team. We also want to continue building our company and revolutionise the world of robotics together.
What advice would you give young students to help them win the NextGen Hero Award next year?
Try it! Even if you don't win, it's a great experience. Rehearsing a pitch and presenting it in front of so many people was very rewarding. I would do it again.
Jessica Farda, Lucas Renfer, thank you very much for the interview. We wish you continued success with your start-ups.
