On 4 December, start-ups presented their innovations as part of the Boldbrain Startup Challenge in Lugano. First place was awarded to Orchestra, a software start-up. The winners received 40,000 Swiss francs and a scholarship worth 45,000 Swiss francs. 400 people attended the ceremony.

 

The Boldbrain programme supports start-ups in the various stages of developing a business idea. It focuses on technological innovations. The programme is organised by the Fondazione Agire / Tecnopolo Ticino and it culminates in the Startup Challenge competition.

The Swiss Federal Institute of Intellectual Property (IPI) has been working with Agire since autumn 2018. As part of this collaboration, since January, the IPI has been offering assisted patent searches at the Agire location in Manno. So far, ten customers have taken advantage of the offer from the fields of chemistry, life sciences, physics and electronics. The service enables companies to put their idea or invention under the microscope and find out if it is new and how they may want to proceed.

 

The IPI is offering assisted patent searches to all finalists of the Boldbrain Startup Challenge.