The IMD Startup Competition has selected 13 startups to collaborate with participants in the Executive MBA.
The competition is an annual event that highlights high-potential Swiss ventures, giving them the opportunity to receive guidance and support from IMD’s EMBA for their entrepreneurial projects.
“Since 1999, we’ve given ourselves the impossible task of choosing which Swiss startups will be successful in the market. Sometimes we get it right. But the IMD challenge is, in one sense, even greater: choosing the ventures that will also provide a great learning opportunity for our students,” says competition founder Jim Pulcrano, Adjunct Professor of Entrepreneurship and Management.
Over the years, many past startups have achieved significant success, demonstrating that their impact extends far beyond this competition and contributes to a collaborative entrepreneurial landscape.
The 2026 selected ventures represent a wide range of solutions, including innovation in biotech, sustainable materials, robotics, digital health, advanced sensors, and clean energy.
List of startup winners
Abrinca delivers the essential bioinformatics software engine that powers microbial R&D, empowering scientists to transform raw genomic data into critical innovations across the entire spectrum of the global bioeconomy.
Billoba develops high-performance, fossil-free materials that replace traditional neoprene, eliminating harmful chemicals, reducing CO2 emissions, and preventing allergic reactions.
Embodied AI is building the first robotic workforce to enter human spaces.
Implanz’s proprietary technology combines bone quality quantification and implant stability prediction with expert knowledge in an unique AI system to predict the optimal surgical pathway, enabling objective, data-driven, and personalized surgical planning.
Lighthouse Tech created TAMI, a smart eyewear frame equipped with advanced front-facing sensors to detect obstacles above waist level, where the white cane is ineffective, providing users who are blind and visually impaired with safer and more confident mobility.
NovoViz is a fabless semiconductor company pioneering patented computational single photon imaging sensors for machine vision, quantum imaging, industrial automation, and edge computing.
OrthoSens transforms standard orthopedic implants into smart, connected devices with battery-free sensors.
Ovomind is pioneering the world’s first affective computing platform that enables natural computer interactions by integrating real-time emotion data into games and digital experiences, merging neuroscience and AI to redefine how humans interact with technology.
Rea Diagnostics is developing PremaSure, the world’s first at-home self-test for preterm birth risk, transforming a trusted hospital diagnostic into a simple, affordable test tohat save livesempowers pregnant women.
SmartHear is a next-generation neurotechnology platform bridging hearing science and cognitive health. Using AI and in-ear precision sensing, it transforms auditory assessment and training into a personalized, adaptive experience that reflects each user’s unique brain activity.
Trilliome develops precision bioactives from upcycled plant sources that reprogram the gut microbiome to support healthier aging.
Windworks empowers businesses and communities to cut costs and carbon emissions with clean, affordable, and reliable power from smart wind turbines that operate directly on-site.
ZESST is a next-generation hydrogen-powered hydrofoil vessel flying efficiently above the waves, offering fast, silent, comfortable, and zero-emission mobility designed to transform urban, coastal, and island transportation.
