Every year, leading entrepreneurs, investors and business people from the likes of Microsoft Ventures, Google, Uber and Oracle compile and curate the Disrupt 100 list, an index tracking the world’s most disruptive businesses. Out of more than five million global startups and corporate ventures, three companies from Western Switzerland made the cut this year.
Top Global Innovator of the Year
SOPHiA Genetics tops the listing. Headquartered in Saint-Sulpice, in the canton of Vaud, the company has developed a genomic diagnostic tool that uses the power of Artificial Intelligence to improve and accelerate diagnoses of patients with diseases such as cancer or metabolic disorders. The technology is already used by approximately 500 hospitals.
Two other Swiss startups, ChemAlive and Biowatch, occupy the 13th and 36th position respectively. The former is working on an automated cloud solution based on big data and quantum chemistry for the chemical and pharma industry, applying machine learning and data science to model chemical properties and reactions for the design of new drugs and materials. The latter has developed a watch that uses distinct, individual vein recognition from a person’s wrist as a form of identification, providing secure and seamless authentication to one’s devices, services and premises.
