Innovation Zurich is the platform that makes collaborations in the field of innovation in the Canton of Zurich visible and possible.

At the Reidholz railway bridge in Wädenswil (ZH), sensors recorded train traffic and provided a more precise picture of loads and structural condition. The data was used to develop different scenarios for the remaining service life of the bridge.
The project showed that data-driven methods can support maintenance and investment decisions. At the same time, the Sandbox team clarified legal issues relating to liability, data protection and operation. The pilot project illustrates how data-driven approaches can make infrastructure maintenance in the Zurich metropolitan area safer, more efficient and more sustainable.

The Digital Eye Clinic project, carried out by Stadtspital Zürich and the Spross Research Institute for the Advancement of Ophthalmology, was part of the Canton of Zurich’s Innovation Sandbox for AI. It explored the medical, technological, regulatory and ethical prerequisites for integrating AI diagnostics into clinical workflows.

The project evaluated existing diagnostic providers and platforms within the current legal and technical framework of the city of Zurich. As no commercial vendor met the clinic’s key criteria, the team developed and validated its own AI models based on opensource research frameworks. Alongside technological validation, the project examined critical issues in regulation, data protection and medical ethics.

The results provide practical insights and best practices for hospitals and healthcare providers considering
AI-assisted diagnostics. They emphasise the need for structured selection and implementation processes, open and interoperable architectures, early clinical involvement, and a careful assessment of whether to use open-source models or rely on external vendors. Beyond ophthalmology, the findings offer transferable lessons for the safe and effective adoption of AI in other areas of clinical practice.

(CONNECT) According to a press release, the Standortförderung Goldküste held its first members' lunch in Küsnacht. The Küsnacht entrepreneur Wim Ouboter presented Micro Mobility Systems AG, which he founded. Among other things, the company manufactures the electrically powered Microlino small car.

Ouboter also spoke about his planned strategies and cooperations as well as the continuation of his company by his two sons. He also addressed the political framework conditions. "As a manufacturer, we often don't have it so easy, especially when it comes to political support and the promotion of e-mobility in the small car sector. This is where we need courage, an understanding of innovative concepts and modern framework conditions that enable progress."

The Standortförderung Goldküste was founded in October. It will hold its general meeting on April 15th in Stäfa. Moritz Lechner, co-founder and Co-Chairman of the Board of Directors of Sensirion AG in Stäfa, will be speaking at the event. ce/ug

(CONNECT) The Gold Coast location promotion agency has published its first annual program. The association was founded in September 2025 by the eleven municipalities of the Meilen district and the Office for Economic Affairs of the Canton of Zurich.

According to a press release, members benefit from free participation in events, excursions and background discussions, direct access to decision-makers and increased visibility. The first general meeting will take place on April 15th at Sensirion AG in Stäfa ZH. Its co-founder and Co-Chairman of the Board of Directors, Dr. Moritz Lechner, will be speaking as a guest speaker.

The press release also mentions a members' lunch with a workshop visit to Micro Mobility Systems AG in Küsnacht and a members' snack at the Zumikon municipal administration. An after-work excursion to Seepark Uetikon, where apartments for a good 600 people are being built on the former chemical factory site, will follow in August. An excursion to the Zurich Cantonal Parliament is also on the agenda. ce/mm

(CONNECT) Exa from San Francisco in the US state of California is opening a location in Zurich, according to a press release. The company develops AI-based internet browsers. Exa claims to be the first search engine that is optimized to deliver exactly the information that users are looking for. The start-up sees itself as an applied AI laboratory that is developing a new neural approach for search technologies.

An important reason for the choice of location is Zurich's position as a fast-growing AI hub in Europe. Leading players in the industry such as Anthropic, OpenAI, Nvidia and Google DeepMind are already represented in the region. Thanks to the top university, the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich (ETH), the city and Switzerland in general - with the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Lausanne (EPFL) - is also a magnet for AI talent, according to the company. The location in Zurich also enables Exa to serve European customers in the same time zone and to develop a better understanding of local markets.

Exa is currently looking for researchers and engineers in the fields of information retrieval and machine learning for the Zurich office. "To put together the best search team in the world, you have to meet them where they are in the world," CEO Will Bryk is quoted as saying. ce/ja

(CONNECT) The Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich (ETH) recognized 46 new start-ups last year. This exceeded the previous high of 43 new start-ups, which was reached in 2023, according to the university.

A new distinction is now made between spin-offs and start-ups. Spin-offs are companies whose business ideas are based on ETH research results. A start-up label, on the other hand, is awarded to those who do not use these results but still have a connection to the university. "ETH start-ups are particularly often founded by students and graduates," says Effy Vayena, Vice President Knowledge Transfer and Corporate Relations.

Of the 24 spin-offs and 22 start-ups recognized last year, 12 are active in the field of technology and software, primarily in the area of artificial intelligence and machine learning. Seven companies belong to the biotechnology and pharmaceutical sector, five to medical technology and diagnostics. In 41 disclosed financing rounds, the companies secured a total of CHF 540 million in 2025. This corresponds to an increase of 27% compared to the previous year.

In the area of start-ups, ETH is now offering the "UPortunity" funding program in collaboration with UBS. Young entrepreneurs who benefit from this receive financial support as well as access to office and laboratory infrastructure.

Across all spin-offs, the proportion of female founders has almost doubled over the past ten years and now stands at 17%. All-female and mixed teams account for around a third of start-ups. ce/as

(CONNECT) The University of Zurich hosted a gala ceremony to highlight special achievements in research and innovation. According to a press release, the winners of the FAN Awards, the UZH 3R Awards and graduates of the UZH Entrepreneur Fellowship Program were honored.

"In the fast-paced world of research, we often rush from one milestone to the next and forget to properly appreciate what we have achieved," Elisabeth Stark, Vice-Rector Research, is quoted as saying. In her speech, she emphasised "the return to competitive research funding" from the European Research Council.

A team of four researchers from the fields of spiritual care, computer science, computational linguistics and educational science received the UZH Postdoc Team Award. The work is of particular social relevance and provides answers to religious and spiritual questions on the basis of thousands of UN documents. According to the university, the UZH Postdoc Team Award was initiated in 2022 and honours interdisciplinary postdoc teams for outstanding and independent scientific achievements.

Zoe Marti from the Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences, Stephanie Santschi from the Faculty of Humanities and Stefano Statunato from the Faculty of Law received the FAN Award, which is endowed with CHF 5,000. The Fund for the Advancement of Young Academics (FAN) of the UZH Alumni thus promotes outstanding achievements in the fields of law and economics, medicine and natural sciences as well as the humanities and social sciences.

Fabiola Jörger on the one hand and Markus Seeger and Johannes vom Berg on the other also received the UZH 3R Award. This award recognises UZH employees who are committed to refining and reducing animal experiments (Replace, Reduce, Refine). Finally, two graduates of the UZH Entrepreneur Fellowship Program, Celestin Mutuyimana and Thomas Look, were honoured. ce/hg

(CONNECT) The 5th International Cooperation Forum (IC Forum) took place in Geneva from February 26th to 27th, the Federal Department of Foreign Affairs (FDFA) reported in a press release. At the forum, which is regularly organized by the Swiss Agency for Development Cooperation based at the FDFA, representatives from politics, business, research and civil society exchange views on issues relating to international cooperation for sustainable development. This year, the focus was on the growing pressure on the international humanitarian system, the FDFA reported in a press release.

One part of the forum program was the presentation of the IC Award. Openversum GmbH from Schlieren, Ha Hu AG from Rüschlikon and WATALUX SA from Geneva were awarded the prize for innovative business ideas from companies in the field of development cooperation. Openversum received the award for the development of a water filter that works without electricity. The company also offers support in setting up your own water business.

Ha Hu Ag from Rüschlikon specializes in the development of software for learning and entertainment purposes. The company received the IC Award for its work on an artificial intelligence platform that can be used to preserve and communicate languages. WATALUX from Geneva was honored for its water treatment systems. They are powered by solar energy and do not require the use of chlorine. ce/hs

ZÜRICH – UAC Labs AG, a Zürich-based financial technology company, has been selected by the Bank of England as one of 18 firms to participate in its RT2 Synchronisation Lab, a programme designed to test how the settlement of tokenised assets and digital money can be synchronised with payments in central bank money. UAC Labs is the only Swiss-domiciled participant in the programme and one of only five firms based outside the United Kingdom.

In the Synchronisation Lab, UAC Labs will test its patent-pending Coordination State Machine (CSM) protocol, which enables atomic multi-party settlement across different ledgers and payment systems without requiring smart contracts, blockchain bridges, or changes to existing custody arrangements. UAC Labs is one of two participants whose primary area of focus is as a “decentralised solution provider.” “We are honoured to have been selected for the Synchronisation Lab. Our core belief is that financial institutions need coordination across heterogeneous systems, not migration to a single blockchain,” said George Heyward II, CEO and Co-Founder of UAC Labs AG. “Our protocol enables assets to remain in existing custody arrangements while settlement becomes atomic and simultaneous across any combination of traditional and digital rails. We look forward to demonstrating this in the Lab environment.”

The RT2 Synchronisation Lab is part of the Bank of England’s RTGS Future Roadmap,  which sets out the next phase of development for the United Kingdom’s core payments infrastructure. The Lab will run from spring to autumn 2026 in a non-live environment, testing how synchronised settlement can reduce settlement risk, improve efficiency, and support innovation in tokenised asset markets. Participants will demonstrate their solutions across use cases including payment-versus-payment for foreign exchange, delivery-versus-payment for tokenised securities, collateral optimisation, and digital money issuance.

UAC Labs AG was founded in Zürich in 2025 by George Heyward II, who brings 30 years of institutional finance experience building fixed income businesses for major financial institutions, and Dr. Alexander Hobbs, whose background spans theoretical astrophysics and blockchain architecture. The company has filed a provisional patent (USPTO 63/915,624) for its Coordination State Machine technology and has achieved live testnet deployments coordinating settlement across multiple blockchain networks.

“Being selected alongside major global financial market infrastructure providers demonstrates that the coordination approach to settlement is gaining recognition at the highest level,” added Heyward. “For a newly formed Zürich company to be part of this programme is a milestone for both UAC Labs and the Swiss financial technology ecosystem.”

(CONNECT) Vivtex and Novo Nordisk will jointly develop next-generation oral biologics for the treatment of obesity, diabetes and related comorbidities, according to a statement from the Danish pharmaceutical company. To this end, the biotech company Vivtex, based in the Bio-Technopark Schlieren-Zurich and Cambridge, will license selected technologies for the development of oral drugs to Novo Nordisk. In return, Vivtex is entitled to an upfront payment, research funding and milestone payments totaling up to 2.1 billion dollars as well as tiered royalties on future product sales.

The aim of the collaboration is the oral administration of biologics, which have so far only been injectable due to their poor absorption in the gastrointestinal tract. To this end, Novo Nordisk will leverage its proven expertise in peptide and protein therapeutics with Vivtex's proprietary platform for gastrointestinal screening and formulation.

"The oral administration of biologics is one of the biggest challenges in drug development," Vivtex co-founder and CEO Dr. Thomas von Erlach is quoted as saying. "Vivtex was founded to systematically solve this problem by combining high-throughput experimentation with computational and AI-driven analytics. The partnership with Novo Nordisk allows us to apply our platform in key areas of metabolic disease with the goal of enabling oral therapies that would otherwise need to be injected."

Once the research has been completed and the formulation selected, Novo Nordisk assumes responsibility for global development. The Danish company is also responsible for the regulatory activities, production and marketing of all resulting products. ce/mm