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(CONNECT) The STEAM Challenge is looking for six pioneering and amazing projects that combine technology, creativity and innovative spirit. The six selected individuals, teams, companies or organizations will face the verdict of the jury, the audience and the invited comedians Gülsha Adilji, Reena Krishnaraja and Zukkihund on stage at Spirgarten Zurich on 3 March 2026.

The anagram STEAM in the name of the challenge stands for Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Mathematics and is another short form for MINT+, i.e. mathematics, computer science, natural sciences and technology plus art and entrepreneurial thinking. "The aim is to have six great projects on stage," said the project team from the Canton of Zurich's Office for Economic Development in a press release. "Our aim is to promote STEM+ skills, make them visible and get the public excited about the STEM+ world in an entertaining way."

The project should therefore have a clear STEM+ or STEAM connection. It should address a relevant social problem, be little known to the general public and have at least reached the prototype stage. The jury criteria are social and societal added value, originality, feasibility, potential for the Zurich location as well as team dynamics and the ability to cooperate.

In addition to fame and honor, the prizes include media visibility before and after the event as well as professional pitch training. Applications, including a two-minute video, must be submitted by January 5, 2026, 12 noon, according to the call for entries, to standort@vd.zh. The finalists will be announced on January 16. Project partners are Innovation Zurich, the Informatiktage and the Future Lab Zurich. ce/mm

The idea for the startup Steasy, a lunchbox with a built-in mini-steamer, came to the three founders Johannes Hofer, Claudio Ruiz and Reto Muhl during their studies while standing in line at one of the microwaves in the cafeteria. "Since people don't have much time during their lunch break, we thought about how to make better use of this time slot to heat up a delicious meal quickly and easily," says Johannes Hofer about Steasy's founding idea.

The idea for a mobile Steambox took concrete shape in 2017: Claudio Ruiz and Reto Muhl, both former students of the School of Engineering, won the ZHAW Startup Challenge. Together with Johannes Hofer, who studied General Management at the School of Management and Law, the idea for Steasy became more and more mature. They successfully applied to the Runway Startup Incubator of the ZHAW Institute of Innovation and Entrepreneurship, which provided them with space and infrastructure for six months.

Then, in 2018, Steasy was founded and a first prototype of the mobile lunchbox was created. The contents of the Steasy lunchbox can be heated within 15 minutes by means of a built-in steamer, which is filled with water beforehand, "no matter what kind of precooked food is inside," explains Johannes Hofer. The box itself can be closed leak-proof and via app you can set the desired time of heating.

"From the very beginning, we received valuable assistance in both the technical and business areas through informal exchanges with lecturers from the School of Engineering," Johannes Hofer recalls. After a successful financing round in early 2020, the young company moved into the Home of Innovation Center, which is located in a former Rieter-Werke factory building in Winterthur.

Finally, at the beginning of April, the time had come for the pre-sale of the first Steasy lunchbox to begin. "We are very satisfied so far, so far we have sold boxes in the triple digits," Hofer reports. Steasy will then be delivered to customers at the beginning of September - with which the entrepreneurs will enter the next major phase of their soon to be five-year company history.