Neuria receives the Start-Up Innovation Prize of the Canton of Fribourg

Neuria gets CHF 30 000 to develop its digital therapy hidden in video games to help fight nutrition disorders

On 9 November 2022, was organised the Innovation Prize Ceremony of the Canton of Fribourg. Neuria received the most votes. The winning start-up was chosen by the jury and the public through a vote organised online for one month.

Neuria is Fribourg-based and has developed a digital therapy hidden in video games to improve eating habits. Conventional approaches to treating overweight are based on prescribing restrictive diets. As these diets often involve fighting cravings and are frustrating to control over the long term, they fail in 90% of cases. Neuria is turning the paradigm on its head with the discovery of a way to modify food preferences. The start-up has identified cognitive tasks whose repeated practice induces targeted brain plasticity in the brain’s reward circuitry, resulting in a reduction in the appeal of unhealthy foods. As a result, less food is consumed and weight is naturally reduced. The training tasks are ‘hidden’ in smartphone video games, so you just play and your health improves without even realising it.

The Start-up Prize was endowed with 30ʼ000 francs/

The Innovation Prize of the Canton of Fribourg is awarded every two years by the Fribourg Economic Development Agency and the Cantonal Bank of Fribourg. This year, the event was dedicated to the 50th anniversary of the Fribourg Economic Development Agency, founded in 1971. Olivier Curty, President of the State Council, said at the award ceremony: “Over the past five decades, the Fribourg Economic Development Agency has done an exemplary job. The finalists of the Innovation Award are impressive for their innovative capacity and their breathtaking level of competence, as well as for the diversity of the projects presented. They bear witness to the extraordinary potential of our canton.

The Company Prize was won by Comet SA based in Flamatt and the Sustainable Economy Prize, for the first time this year, was awarded to the project presented by PMF-System based in Marly.

Source: Press Release