Finalists and winners

Eradicating muscle and joint pain: that is the vision of APTISSEN SA. The injectable gel SynolisTM was launched by APTISSEN under the leadership of co-founder Silvia Scherer, who has a PhD in natural sciences. This is an innovative product that rapidly helps to restore mobility and provide long-lasting pain relief.

The jury says: “Silvia Scherer is a star entrepreneur who has shown enormous innovative spirit to successfully position her company in a short space of time.

What began in 1974 as a manufacturer of whipped cream machines and milk frothers has gone on to become a leading global supplier of coffee machines. The career of CEO Adrian Steiner developed just as rapidly. He started work for Thermoplan in 1998 as its 21st employee, matured into an entrepreneur in the company and now heads it, with the number of employees currently standing at 500.

The jury says: “Adrian Steiner has managed to successfully drive forward the diversification of his very well-known company and position it more broadly.”

Pini Group has multidisciplinary teams on all five continents developing smart, cost-effective and sustainable solutions for complex technical projects of any size – from railway tunnels to road bridges and airport terminals, and from power stations to hospitals and data centers. Group CEO Andrea Galli succinctly sums up what the company wants to do: “Make it happen.”

The jury says: “The decentralized positioning of his company has allowed Andrea Galli to bring Swiss quality to the international stage in an innovative fashion.”

As a partner in a management consultancy firm, Marc Vollenweider noticed that although valuable analysis conducted by research centers reaches the consulting teams, it does not directly reach clients. He wants to change this – as co-founder of the global data analytics provider Evalueserve, where 4,500 domain analysts constantly supply their clients with valuable insights thanks to AI-based mind machines.

The jury says: “In his highly dynamic way, Marc Vollenweider has successfully expanded his company from India across the world.”

One of the reasons for the success of this leading manufacturer of dental products is its unique Japanese-European corporate culture. Founded in Tokyo in 1921 by three young Japanese chemists, GC Corporation is now run from its headquarters in Switzerland – by Makoto Nakao, the grandson of one of the founders. 

The jury says: “Makoto Nakao impressed us with his openness. His successful company combines Japanese culture with Swiss values.”

Esther Studer, Peter Galliker and Rolf Galliker are the third generation of their family to head Galliker Transport AG, which was set up in 1918 and has grown from a small haulage company into a logistics company operating throughout Europe – with 3,500 employees at 19 sites in six countries. This is partly because the three siblings are keeping up the tradition of thinking in terms of generations, not quarters.

The jury says: “The Gallikers are a family of entrepreneurs par excellence, whose personal commitment and passionate innovative spirit are helping them hold their own in a difficult market.”

Four-legged robots with AI-driven agility take recurring, dirty and dangerous tasks off the hands of workers in the oil, gas and chemical industry, improving not just their productivity, but also their quality of life: that is the mission of ANYbotics, a spin-off of ETH Zurich’s Robotic Systems Lab run by co-founder Péter Fankhauser. 

The jury says: “Péter Fankhauser supplies cutting edge technology from Switzerland and his pioneering offering is helping him to hold his own against global competition.”

Over a million soloists have a professional orchestra accompany them when practicing – thanks to the Tomplay app’s interactive scores. The idea came from business student Alexis Steinmann, who founded a promising start-up and now has 40 employees working under him.

The jury says: “Alexis Steinmann’s ingenious app successfully gives all music lovers the opportunity to benefit from his intoxicating passion for music.”