Project Archive
AdCarta
Multi-functional cards offer a huge potential for making our daily life easier. While single-purpose cards are already spreading at a fast pace and become more and more popular, the idea of combining multiple services on one single chip card has not yet reached peoples mind.
We catch the vision of our customers and provide tangible solutions. We handle complexity on their behalf and make your life easier – by adding value to your card. Perceived Need Most people already made contact with mono-functional contactless cards that are based on RFID technology (Radio Frequency Identification). The most widespread example is probably the ski ticket as all bigger ski resorts have such card systems in use and get great feedback from their customers. Additionally, similar systems are increasingly used for public transport, universities, swimming pools, events and so on. The list of possibilities is virtually endless. This is where we would like to step in. We see a huge potential in communities where people are offered multiple services and have to identify themselves to get access. Up to now, it has been necessary to use different identification processes and credentials. This gets complex and inconvenient rather early than late. Unfortunately, communities hesitate to adopt powerful new solutions, as they don't fully understand the huge potential and as complexity and uncertainty is feared. Taking into account that Switzerland lost some positions in the worldwide tourism ranking of the World Tourism Organization over the past few years, it is obvious that existing resorts need to be innovative.
How we add value
We do understand the technology, the market and the processes. We can handle complexity and create security in delivering all services that are needed so that our customer can make his dream true. From identifying his needs to shaping ideas, creating concepts and supporting him all way through the project until hand over of up and running systems. Maintenance and further development is also part of our portfolio.
Albatros
Overview: Establish an e-coupon/advert system which connects the advertiser with the right customer at the right time and the right place.
- Bring back online social networks to real life
- Get to know individual interests and connect the advertiser with the right customer
- Get businesses to advert on our system and administrate their adverts
ÆOLUS
Overview: ÆOLUS is being formed as a private company offering services to Oil & Gas distributors and high-voltage companies. ÆOLUS will offer a complete pipeline and powerline monitoring service using civil UAVs (Unmanned Air Vehicle), which provide the appropriate platforms for a remote sensing-based inspection system and will effectively identify potential threats to pipelines and powerlines.
Answerme.com
Overview:AnswerMe.com is a community question & answer platform, where the best answers are awarded with a prize. The platform is characterized by a big number of users, that can take advantage from being rated. This is supported by a cooperation with career centers and human resources departments. With time, the platform will serve as a place for advertising to well defined and most precious target group.
Ataraxia
Overview: Our mission was to provide and to successfully commercialize a variety of scalable solutions that reduce suffering from noise pollution. These solutions will in general consist of three components: insulation, acoustic space design and an active noise reduction device (ANR), also known as 'active noise control' (ANC). The product will be custom tailored for each of the customers. Efficient implementation of the ANC component in to the solution package for noise reduction represents our competitive advantage. Therefore we will concentrate our research activity on developing an effective and scalable ANC system.
au2 - the ride share company
Mobility and freedom are basic needs of a modern society. Due to high speed transportation possibilities longer distances can be coped by commuters. In Switzerland as well as in Germany most commuters commute with MIV (Motorisierter Individualverkehr) espacially by car. In absolute numbers over 1,850,000 commuters in Switzerland and 20,300,000 commuters in Germany commute daily. au2 is going to become a powerful tool to bring these commuters together. With au2 we offer a fully integrated service approach in order to meet the customer needs of a safe, reliable, easy-‐to-‐use and flexible ride sharing system. In the center thereof stands our internet platform which integrates our smart search and matching technology, bringing the drivers and the ride sharers intelligently together.
With au2 we offer a fully integrated service approach in order to meet the customer needs of a safe, reliable, easy-‐to-‐use and flexible ride sharing system. In the center thereof stands our internet platform which integrates our smart search and matching technology, bringing the drivers and the ride sharers intelligently together.
BABYCARE
Parents do not have a clue! Nothing can prepare you to parenting! You will not know the rapture of having a baby before you hold your own in your arms. They are loving, caring and cute. They also are entirely dependant on their parents. Babies need 24/7 care, encompass loving, feeding, bathing or medical attention. If loving is instinctive, and medical care is outsourced, parents are left alone when it comes to feeding and care taking.
We want parents to enjoy every second of their baby’s happiness! At Babycare we would like to relieve the parents from some of the hassle and let use the spare time to enjoy the relationship with their babies. Babycare comes in at the early phases of the feeding and care taking processes. We choose the products that are relevant for the baby’s needs and deliver them at the parents’ doorstep. All we ask for the parents is to subscribe on the Internet to our service, with its monthly fee, and give us the health information on their loved ones. Indeed since every baby is unique, we want to know how fast and sound he or she is growing to provide him or her with the best according product bundle.
E-Waste Logistics India Ltd.
Overview: The concept is born with a spirit of a logistics enterprise aimed at providing specific solutions to the electronic waste (e-waste) recycling marketing India. This enterprise arises in ETH Zurich in the of autumn 2007 in a technological environment. The four founders have engineering studies background with core competences in several areas like logistics and supply chain management. Furthermore two of them are citizens from India and have first hand knowledge of the market opportunity and about the bureaucratic processes of related to setting up such an enterprise.
EnergyMove
An energy problem will be spread over the whole world in a couple of years if there is no change in human behaviour. There have to be new ideas for the production of pollution free energy, additionally to the already existing ones like wind, water or solar energy. That is why EnergyMove wants to produce electrical energy through movement with the help of piezoelements. The starting team of EnergyMove consists of four people from ETH Zurich with different backgrounds. We are three material scientists and one business engineer, all interested in alternative energies and of course the technology behind a new idea.
Piezoelements are mainly piezoelectric ceramics which show dipoles in their elementary cells. These dipoles can be changed in their direction by applying a specific mechanical force and like that a macroscopic electrical voltage is produced. By the help of such piezoelements many applications could use mechanical energy from daily live to produce pollution free energy.
The first product of EnergyMove will be a floor panel system with attached piezoelements. By stepping on such a plate, people would compress the piezoelement and produce energy without knowing or having to apply a special force. This product has a wide range of application and could help for a good and fast start of the company.
Energy Solution Consultants - ESC
Overview: The group is an expert Renewable Energy Technology (RET) consultancy focusing on providing medium size industry customers (500 - 2'000 employees) with renewable power supply solutions as well as brokerage of excess CO2 allowances.
Galileo Guide: Not Just a Travel Guide
Overview: Developed for iPhones and other smartphones, the Galileo Guide travel software was created with the goal of providing young travelers with the information they need. The software is equipped with all the information of a standard travel guidebook - from opening hours to historical information on points of interest. It also includes maps and is compatible with GPS, and so is capable of directing the user to where they want to go, or informing them of nearby points of interest based on their current location. The software is also complete with a restaurant and shopping guide and the user will be able to get hotel listings and book rooms directly through their phone.
Hydrogen@home
Overview: The market of electronic portable devices has been massively growing during the last few years, following an increasing demand from the side of users for mobility. The rechargeable batteries that are used as energy supply have reached their limit of performance in terms of energy density, and can not meet anymore the user's need for longer autonomy time. This fact is driving a change towards the use of micro fuel cells instead of recharchable batteries, to obtain longer autonomous operation time. This change from batteries to micro fuel cells technology is however blocked by some restraints. According to a report published by Frost & Sullivan [1], one of the problems blocking the massive development of micro fuel cells is the fuel supply. The technologies available for hydrogen distribution, as one of the most promising fuel, are not costeffective for the micro fuel cells development. Our product is precisely a solution to this fuel problem.
iLearn
Overview: Nowadays middle-aged and old people are facing the gap between claim & reality of the handling and use of electronic devices.
Our aim is to provide high-quality and personal services in technical support to increase our customer's independence and life quality. Under its value learning by doing and entertaining, we provide a service which helps these people to take advantage of their electronic devices.
Keysy
Overview: The rise of the internet over the past decade or so has seen a growing acceptance and use of on-line computer accounts for activities such as e-mailing, banking, in- formation management, shopping and social networking. Furthermore, medium to large companies have set-up network accounts for various software programs to enable their employees to work with associates and customers all over the world. In both cases, users are authenticated via their username and a correct password or personal identication number (PIN). In theory, this increased usage of on-line accounts has meant that both private users and employees have had to manage numerous username/password combinations for their accounts and software programs.
The vision of the company is to create the need for a portable device that one carries around with oneself and is used not only to generate secure passwords and PINs, but also to provide seamless authentication by inserting the usernames and passwords automatically for the user onto the log-in screen when the device is inserted into the computer.
OptiFM
Overview:The unique feature for the OptiFM platform is to offer a large and selected database of energy management providers where the users have the opportunity to search, and through selected available tools, choose the best solution for their application. Therefore, OptiFM attracts people who are looking for optimizing their energy system. An energy optimization tool and a referenced database will ensure many hits of OptiFM's homepage. Good reputation for listed companies can be built quickly since site visitors can report about their experience with a certain enterprise. Summarized OptiFM enables increased visibility for the customer and has the potential to increase his action range.
Portable Care Solution
Overview: Portable Care Solution is a start-up company that offers portable, painless blood glucose monitoring devices with educational and lifestyle management functions for diabetic patients. Our first product to be launched on the market will target diabetic children, since this user group is somewhat marginal for the current market players. Products for teenagers and adults will follow to make a complete product series and achieve continuous development of our company. Our competitive advantage is to provide customers with pain-free, non-invasive blood glucose measurements at a lower-than-competition price, and also an appealing tool to support diabetic patients in diabetes awareness, education and management. We are seeking 2.5 million US dollars in investments to fund our business strategy, and eventually position the company for an IPO. The plan herein described elucidates the market, value proposition and business strategy. The financial plans provide details on sales and profit forecasts. In particular, it is shown how we plan to reach profitability in the third year of operation and generate shareholder return on equity over 40% within five years.
rEthink
Global warming and other climate changes threaten our planet. Therefore, focus has been directed at lowering the "carbon footprint" and environmental impact of companies and individuals. As more people consider the environment a top priority, cities will also need to make drastic changes in the way they run their operations in order to be "green". For a variety of reasons, namely the lack of engineering knowledge and financial resources, small cities have not been able to make improvements to their systems. Furthermore, consulting companies have thus far only considered businesses and larger cities for such energy saving improvements. In response to these concerns, rEthink has developed an all inclusive package for small to medium sized communities without excess money to spare. In the first phase rEthink evaluates the potential for energy saving policies and capital improvements; in the next phase rEthink plans and implements these changes; in the final phase the community is reimbursed for their energy saving improvements by savings in their utility bills.
RSOL
Overview: Within the last 10 years, significant improvements have been made in technologies providing renewable energy sources. While not sufficient for industrial sized power generation, scalability of these technologies has reached a new level yet unexploited by commercial endeavours. We have the strong believe that in the range of 5 to 10 kilowatt it is feasible and profitable to provide independent and moreover reliable solar power through a new combination of available and economical technologies. In our opinion, a successful enterprise in this field is not so much about scientific breakthrough but connecting already existing dots, really.
SunChase
1. Many houses in Europe do not have a roof which is well oriented for producing energy by solar cells. These houses can only gain 70% percent of the energy a well oriented house can gain.
2. Photovoltaic cells are usually built in series connection. Therefore the weakest cell determines the performance (output) of the system. The weakest cells (those lying in the shadow) work as a restistance. This property leads to a shorter lifetime of Photovoltaic cells. Shadows need to the avoided.
Solution to the first problem
With our system it will be possible to constantly adjust the position of the Photovoltaic cells on houses in order to maximize their efficiency. This system will allow houses directed to the east or west to increase their energy gain by Photovoltaic cells by up to 50%. Our system enables house owners without a perfect roof orientation to participate in solar energy production.
Solution to the second problem (Our products):
Our alternative product, installed on roofs horizontally, allows installing Photovoltaic cells on partially shadowed roofs. The move of the solar cells adjust their position best to the illuminated area of the roof always.
ULTRA
Ultra provides clean, efficient solutions in washing machines. Ultra's washing machine decreases the time of the washing cycle by 70% to 20 minutes. It furthermore decreases the detergent consumption by 60% and the energy consumption by 30%. These tremendous improvements are achieved by a revolution in technology.
Our products are based on ultrasonic cleaning which is a technology that has proven itself in industrial applications. Ultrasonic waves dissolve away the dirt by the physical principle of cavitation. Washing quality remains equal or is even improved to that of state of the art technology.
Veneco
Overview: In the context of growing customer sensitivity towards global warming and raising energy prices, Veneco developed new products and services which provide unbeatable fast and accurate energy analysis of existing buildings and thereby allow our customers to strengthen their market position. Veneco's new technology enables energy consultants and architects to derive useful and comprehensive results on the thermal properties for all sections of a building with comparably low effort. Veneco is unique in deriving an extensive energy analysis report from systematically taken infrared camera pictures. The Veneco customers collect the data and, based on our service, can present the results in nearly real time to their clients, mainly home and building owners, to support the signing of a renovation contract. Veneco supplies the necessary equipment and education for the data collection on-site. Veneco also provides lead generation for our customers by endorsing their services to their clients. Architects and energy consultants are presented on a public list once they are experienced in using Veneco's technology. Home and building owners can use this list to search for local provider of such a service.
WEAR FAIR
Overview: WEAR FAIR is a non-profit organization that sells licenses to apparel manufacturing companies, guaranteeing their products to be produced child labor free. The profit will finance educational programs in developing countries. Its major purpose is to reduce child labor statistics on a global scale by employing the indirect financial support of the western middle class.
In our globalized world: (1) 246 million children are child laborers, and (2) people are better than ever informed and willing to contribute to the fate of these children. WEAR FAIR connects these two groups by giving the latter a chance to improve the living conditions of the world's poorest, while fulfilling their personal need for clothing.
