Zurich – Decentriq has won the ZKB Pioneer Award Technopark, which is endowed with 100,000 Swiss francs. The DeepTech start-up was recognized for its platform with technology for data protection and artificial intelligence. The co-finalists Avelo from Schlieren and Stimit from Biel each received 10,000 francs. The Audience Award went to 4QT.
Decentriq has been awarded the ZKB Pioneer Prize Technopark by the Zürcher Kantonalbank. The award ceremony took place on May 7, 2024 in Zurich's Technopark. The Zurich-based DeepTech start-up has impressed with its Software as a Service (SaaS) platform with data protection technologies and artificial intelligence (AI) solutions, according to a press release.
Founded by Maximilian Groth and Stefan Deml in 2019, the start-up sets a new standard "by using AI tools to generate real added value from protected data sources. By breaking down data silos, new value-creating analyses are made much easier or even possible in the first place," Michelle Tschumi, Head of Start-up Finance at ZKB, is quoted as saying.
The platform enables companies to "work together on confidential data and create insightful statistics or AI models without ever sharing the raw data", it says. Decentriq uses confidential computing, which is described as a "new, highly secure chip and cloud technology", to process encrypted raw data.
Decentriq emphasizes the high standards of data security and the utilization of data. "With our platform, we make it possible to use sensitive data collaboratively - in a protected and verifiably inaccessible manner," CEO Maximilian Groth is quoted as saying.
Two other prizewinners were awarded 10,000 Swiss francs each: Avelo (Schlieren ZH) has developed a Breath Aerosol Collector, while Stimit (Biel BE) received the prize money for a product to train the respiratory muscle. The Audience Award went to 4QT from Zurich, which specializes in the electrification of heavy machinery.
The ZKB Pionierpreis Technopark has been awarded since 2001 by Zürcher Kantonalbank and the Technopark Zurich Foundation for deep tech companies that are about to enter the market. Commitment and willingness to take risks are particularly appreciated. ce/heg