AiCon was launched successfully this week. The series of events have been organized under the patronage of Guy Parmelin, Member of the Federal Council, the Swiss Federal government. As part of AiCon, innovations from the field of Artificial Intelligence (AI) are to be showcased each year. The most promising firms are awarded the national AI prize, which has now been presented for the first time.
The winner of this award is Daedalean from Zurich, as detailed in a press release. The start-up is developing software that is designed to allow airplanes to fly autonomously in future. Daedalean is composed of a team of engineers, many of whom have already worked for Google and SpaceX, for example. The finalists also included Typewise, a company, which is developing an innovative keyboard for mobile applications, in addition to Gamaya, which designs algorithms for automation in agriculture. The finalists beat off competition from around 100 other start-ups, according to information in the press release.
This year, AiCon was held in the canton of Schwyz. Approximately 60 personalities from the worlds of politics, business, research and society were invited to attend. Among others, Marianne Janik, CEO of Microsoft Switzerland, and Ivo Furrer, President of digitalswitzerland, gave speeches. Parmelin spoke via video message: “The AiCon is the right initiative at the right time – a platform that combines business, science, technology, politics and society. It is a positive movement focusing on the opportunities presented by AI. I will do all I can to ensure that this initiative covers the entirety of Switzerland”.
The AI Award is sponsored by the Mindfire Foundation, the >>venture>> prize from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich, the ZKB Pioneer Prize, the DigitalEconomy Award, the Swiss ICTAward, the Swiss ICT Investor Club SICTIC as well as further foundations and organizations throughout the whole of Switzerland.
