Swisscom StartUp Challenge 2020
Shaping the future with 5G
The highlights of the StartUp Challenge 2020
The Swisscom StartUp Challenge 2020 was dominated by 5G. In the weeks prior to the event, five start-ups focused their full attention on 5G and worked alongside Swisscom experts to develop their innovative products for the network of the future.
A huge thank you to our winners: Fotokite, HEGIAS AG – building imagination, Qiio, Robotics Systems Lab ETH Zürich, ZaiNar.
StartUp Challenge 2021
Are you a start-up or a research team? Would you like to take part in the StartUp Challenge 2021? Register here for more information.
What the winners can expect during the Exploration Week
Lab environment
Working with the latest 5G architectures (from the access to the core, including a Faraday cage) in which E2E testing can take place
Swisscom live network
Access to the live Swisscom 5G network at a range of different locations (indoor, hotspots, on trains, rural environments)
Access to 5G devices
Access to 5G smartphones, hotspots, tablets, laptops, existing Swisscom services and testing tools
5G Experts
Support/mentoring by 5G experts from Swisscom and the partner firms/programme partners
Interactions
Opportunities to interact with potential customers, partner firms or investors
An attractive programme of events
An unforgettable week in Switzerland including a visit to the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne and Swiss innovators of business/technology
What the applicants need
- A prototype/product that requires 5G functionality and is unviable or has only limited viability with 4G
- During the Exploration Week, the team must be able to demonstrate that the prototype/product works in the live 5G network or the 5G lab
What the winners receive
- Analysis of business cooperation with Swisscom and investment by Swisscom Ventures
- A one-week exploration programme with access to one of the world’s most advanced 5G networks
- Mentoring and challenges set by Swisscom experts and programme partners (Venturelab, Ericsson, Qualcomm)
Timetable
Until October 11th, 2020
Application
Apply with your 5G Case on swisscom.ch/challenge.
December 17th, 2020
Pitch
The 10 finalists pitch to the jury (Remote Option)
October 12th to November 26th, 2020
Selection
Swisscom and Venturelab select the 10 most interesting cases from all applications.
December 17th, 2020
Announcement of the 5 winners
November 26th, 2020
Announcement of the 10 finalists
December 22th, 2020 and January 14th, 2021
Briefing Exploration Program
The preparations are now running (Remote Option)
November 26th to December 17th, 2020
Public Voting
The public votes online for their favourite. Great prizes to win.
March 22th to 26th, 2021
Exploration Program in the Swiss 5G Lab from Swisscom
December 3rd, 2020
Pitch-Training
Preparation for the final with Venturelab. (Remote Option)
Programme Partners
Outreach Partners
The Swisscom StartUp Challenge’s jury and mentors
The jury includes members of the Swisscom Group Executive Board and representatives from Swisscom Ventures and programme partners Venturelab, Ericsson and Qualcomm. During the Exploration Week, experts from Swisscom and the programme partners will provide support and guidance to the winners.
Roger Wüthrich-Hasenböhler
Chief Digital Officer, Swisscom
Christoph Aeschlimann
Chief Technology and Information Officer, Swisscom
Kathrin Hösli
Head of Exploration, Swisscom
Patrick Weibel
Head of 5G Program, Swisscom
Dominique Mégret
Head of Swisscom Ventures, Swisscom
Egon Steinkasserer
Chief Product Officer, Swisscom
Friederike Hoffmann
Head of Connected Business Solutions, Swisscom
Enrico Salvatori
Senior Vice President & President Qualcomm EMEA
Martin Bürki
Managing Director Ericsson Switzerland
Stefan Steiner
Co-Managing Director at Venturelab
Hamid-Reza Nazeman
Managing Director Germany at Qualcomm
Hall of Fame
Robotic Systems Lab_ETH
We bring cutting-edge technology in teleoperation and automation for heavy machinery to a product level - and provide a solution to work in places which are too dangerous or too remote for humans to operate. Our unmanned solution enables safe clean-up of the ammunition, tree harvesting in remote forests, removal of rockfalls and mudslides on roads and allows continued work during Pandemies.
ZaiNar, Inc
ZaiNar provides real time location for any 5G device to within a meter in 3D. ZaiNar location is powered by patented advancements in signal processing for tracking phones, cars, drones and IoT without hardware changes and without additional battery drain. ZaiNar uses an order or magnitude less spectrum than other positioning techniques and is flexible across frequencies and protocols.
HEGIAS AG
HEGIAS VR is world’s first browser-/cloud-based and automated solution for visualization and communication using virtual reality for the construction and real estate sector. It enables architects’ 3D plans to be viewed and altered in a virtual world by one or more people from any location at the touch of a button, at any stage of planning or construction.
Fotokite
Fotokite provides Public Safety teams with live on-site and remotely streamed situational awareness solutions to help them stay safe, save lives, and preserve property. Fotokite systems are mounted on top of Public Safety vehicles and operate with the single push of a button, streaming aerial thermal and RGB video to help them size-up emergency response scenes. Fotokite is a 50-person ETH-Zurich spin-off with offices in Zurich, Syracuse, and Boulder.
qiio AG
qiio provides plug and play, edge-to-cloud secure cellular IoT solutions optimized for bidirectional connectivity through the cloud. We provide customers with everything theyneed to securely connect, monitor, and control their industrial assets. qiio’s technology is ideal for high-security IoT applications requiring remote management, monitoring and predictive maintenance in hard-to-reach places.