Visienco named as the winner of the Ypsomed Innovation Award 2026
Bern/Burgdorf/Root - Visienco AG has claimed first place in the Ypsomed Innovation Award 2026. The start-up is developing an automated process for the production of organoids. In addition to Visienco, optohive and Rhovica Neuroimaging were also awarded.
Visienco AG, which is headquartered at Technopark Luzern in Root in the Swiss canton of Lucerne, has been named as the winner of this year’s Ypsomed Innovation Award during the award ceremony in Bern. The biotechnology company is in the process of developing an automated process for the rapid production of organoids and has banked prize money of 50,000 Swiss francs for finishing in first place. According to a statement, the Zurich-based company optohive and Rhovica Neuroimaging from Bern were also awarded, each receiving prize money of 25,000 Swiss francs.
With Orgadroid, Visienco combines robotics and Artificial Intelligence to automate the production and application of organoids. This enables standardized and traceable processes. Organoids are laboratory-grown microstructures that mimic the complexity and functionality of human organs. As such, they offer an alternative to animal testing and support personalized medicine and drug development processes.
Optohive, a spin-off from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich (ETH), earned recognition for the development of a wearable, modular brain imaging system based on functional near-infrared spectroscopy.
In turn, Rhovica Neuroimaging was recognized for its SoNav system, a miniaturized ultrasound procedure that facilitates precision-guided EVD (External Ventricular Drainage) neuro catheter placement and monitoring directly at the patient’s bedside.
The Ypsomed Innovation Award is an award presented by the Ypsomed Innovation Fund Foundation from Burgdorf in the canton of Bern. Its aim is to promote the transfer of knowledge and technology from universities and universities of applied sciences in the Swiss Central Plateau region, situated between the Jura mountains and the Alps, to businesses. “Swiss universities are among the best in the world”, as Simon Michel, President of the Foundation Board and CEO of Ypsomed, explains. “It is important that we make their knowledge and research accessible to the Swiss economy”, he concludes.
