Actival Shines at >>venture>> 2026 Award Ceremony
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The annual >>venture>> Awards, held at the Swiss Tech Convention Centre at EPFL in Lausanne in front of around 300 guests, once again showcased the depth of Switzerland’s innovation ecosystem. This year, the Swiss Health Valley had reason to celebrate: Actival won the Medtech & Healthtech vertical.
Actival, a spin-off from CSEM and the only Swiss Health Valley startup in the competition, took the Medtech & Healthcare category prize, walking away with CHF 50,000. The Neuchâtel-based company has developed patented active dental devices enabling the slow, controlled release of beneficial fluids to improve oral health — a precise, patient-centred approach to orthodontics and preventive dentistry that caught the jury’s attention.
In the Pharma & Biotech category, Baxiva claimed the prize with its proprietary next-generation vaccine platform, targeting severe infections such as urinary tract infections and sepsis. The Zurich-based company’s approach aims not only to improve patient outcomes but to reduce antibiotic dependency — a growing global priority.
The evening’s highest honour went to Edwatec, an EPFL startup developing integrated optical amplifiers for next-generation AI infrastructure. As artificial intelligence drives an exponential surge in data centre demand, optical transceivers capable of sustaining that growth have become a critical bottleneck. Edwatec’s answer lies in miniaturising optical amplification through EDWA (Erbium Doped Waveguide Amplifier) technology, integrated directly into a photonic chip. The result: high-speed, high-bandwidth, low-energy optical communication for data centres, satellite networks and fibre optic sensors alike. The company walked away with CHF 150,000 and a tailored McKinsey & Company consulting package.
The inaugural Spotlight Award, recognising the boldest use of Apertus, Switzerland’s open AI model, went to Noemon, which is redefining how AI learns and scales through local, plasticity-based, distributed learning.
➡️ Source: >>venture>> | 📸 Dr. Nikola Kalentics, Founder of Actival. ©>>venture>>