Three Wins for the Swiss Health Valley: Recognition for Unboound, DIVERSSITY and Prof. Nicolas Winssinger

From clinical innovation to fundamental science, each of these Swiss Health Valley entrepreneurs and researchers were recognised at the highest level their respective field : ORL, AI-Driven Mental Health therapy and and Medicinal Chemistry.

Dr. Julien Wen Hsieh wins the Grand Prix 2026 of the Swiss Society of ORL

Dr. Julien Wen Hsieh, CEO and Founder of Unboound, has been awarded the Grand Prix 2026 of the Swiss Society of Oto-Rhino-Laryngology, Head and Neck Surgery. The prize recognises his outstanding scientific contributions to otorhinolaryngology throughout his career, including the development of SMELL-RS, the technology at the heart of Unboound. The award underscores the scientific foundation on which the company’s innovation is built — a reminder that behind every promising medtech venture is often years of clinical and academic groundwork.

DIVERSSITY wins the AI for Good Innovation Factory: Women Entrepreneurs 2026

At the AI for Good Global Summit 2026 in Geneva, DIVERSSITY — a Swiss health-tech company led by Co-Founder and CEO Anne-Laure Héritier — won the Innovation Factory: Women Entrepreneurs Shaping the Future award, a thematic session of the UN’s AI for Good Innovation Factory organised by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU).

DIVERSSITY addresses one of the most under-resourced areas of care: mental health support for neurodiverse adolescents, particularly those with autism spectrum disorder or ADHD. Its platform combines mixed-reality environments with a specialised eye-tracking system inside structured therapeutic activities that simulate social scenarios. As a young person moves through these activities, the system captures real-world behavioural and biological signals, which an AI layer translates into objective profiles — helping clinicians understand each adolescent’s needs and adapt therapy in real time.

The model runs on two products: My Magic Room™, a mixed-reality software layer licensed to institutions and currently in MVP release, and My Reveal In™, a SaaS offering for clinics and hospitals that adds AI biometric profiling and clinical decision-support. Together, they turn each therapy session into both an intervention and a source of measurable outcomes data — precisely the kind of evidence base that adolescent mental health care has long lacked.

Professor Nicolas Winssinger receives the Klaus Grohe Prize 2026

Professor Nicolas Winssinger, of the Department of Organic Chemistry at the University of Geneva’s School of Chemistry and Biochemistry, has been named co-recipient of the Klaus Grohe Prize 2026 — one of Europe’s most prestigious distinctions in medicinal chemistry, awarded by the Gesellschaft Deutscher Chemiker (GDCh).

The prize honours his pioneering work at the interface of organic chemistry, chemical biology and therapeutic research. Winssinger’s research repurposes nucleic acids — the molecules that normally carry genetic information — as programmable elements capable of controlling chemical reactions and assembling complex molecules. The approach enables molecular circuits that behave like sensors, recognising specific biological signals before triggering a targeted therapeutic response, such as releasing an active pharmaceutical ingredient exactly where and when it’s needed.

His work has already produced smart medicines that selectively target tumour cells, next-generation synthetic antibodies, and on-demand reversible anticoagulants. The award will be presented on 6 September 2026 at the EFMC Medicinal Chemistry conference in Basel.

A cluster that spans the full innovation chain

Clinical recognition, entrepreneurial award, and a top European science prize — three different kinds of achievement, all rooted in the same regional ecosystem. It’s a good illustration of what the Swiss Health Valley brings together: research excellence, founder-led innovation, and clinical practice, each reinforcing the others.

➡️ Sources : AI for Good, Unige School of Chemistry, Unboond | 📸 ©AI for Good, Unige School of Chemistry, Unboond