The winner of the Prix Strategis 2022 is CompPair!
Last night, the 29th winning start-up of the Prix Strategis was announced among the 76 candidates that participated in this 2022 edition. It is CompPair, a start-up company that produces a new selfhealing composite material. It won the prize of 50,000 Swiss francs because it attracted the jury’s attention with the quality of its promising invention.
Winning the Prix Strategis means that it has succeeded in convincing a jury of renowned experts in various fields and influential figures in French-speaking business. CompPair had to meet demanding criteria in terms of innovation, product realization, ability to expand and impact, but also present a favorable potential for the Swiss economy.
CompPair, an EPFL spin-off, produces a composite material that can repair itself. Composite materials are widely used in sports, marine, wind and transport industries such as aerospace and automotive industries. However, a major limitation with these materials is their sensitivity to damage. Current repair solutions are costly and time consuming; and recycling is still lacking efficiency. CompPair tackles these limitations by bringing innovative preimpregnated textiles. They developed a unique resin with a semi-autonomous healing system, triggered by moderate heat. This resin also allowed the addition of key features like crack resistance, healing while leaving conventional properties and manufacturing unchanged.
Artiria Medical rounds out the podium in second place. The company, which also emerged from EPFL, is active in the neurovascular field. The startup has developed a system that allows neurosurgeons to safely navigate brain arteries. This technology can be used to improve the treatment of strokes.
On the third step of the podium, we find the start-up ExerGo, which operates in the field of lowtemperature heat networks. By using CO2 as a heat and cold transfer fluid instead of water, this technology reduces CO2 emissions by 90% compared to traditional solutions. This solution allows the exchange of heat waste between buildings and provides an efficient district heating and cooling network.
Not on the winner’s podium, but no less deserving, are Agrinorm, which uses advanced machine learning techniques to optimize fruit and vegetable supply chains, and Perovksia Solar, which produces customizable and digitally printed photovoltaic cells.
Finally, the guests present at the ceremony, as well as everyone who took an interest in these start-ups on social networks, were able to crown their favorite start-up with the Audience Award, supported by La Mobilière. With more than 350 votes and very close results, Perovskia Solar wins the Prix du Public La Mobilière and the 5,000 Swiss francs.
On Wednesday, May 18 at 7 p.m., the award ceremony for the 29th edition of the Prix Strategis took place at the Olympic Museum in Lausanne. This competition has made a name for itself by selecting winners who are now considered figureheads of the Swiss economy. On this occasion, the title of the best start-up in Switzerland has been awarded every year since 1993 by the HEC Espace Entreprise student association.
For this 29th edition, we had the honor of welcoming Michael Ploog, member of the Board of Directors at Swissquote, as guest speaker. His speech was an opportunity to learn more about this Swiss banking group and its evolution over the years.
The Prix Strategis is organized by HEC Espace Entreprise, an association of students who want to bring the entrepreneurial world and HEC Lausanne students closer together. Finally, we would like to express our appreciation to Alex Glavieux, Head of the Prix Strategis, for organizing this new edition, as well as to the entire team that accompanied him to offer us this final event. Every year, this event is a testament to the hard work of a student team in running a competition that was created almost 30 years ago.
Alex MAGLIANO
Head of Communications
