Innovation award for Scewo
Scewo AG has been awarded the Innovation Prize 2019 by Idee-Suisse. The prize went to the ETH spin-off for the development of its stair-climbing electric wheelchair. Scewo emerged from a D-MAVT focus project.
The 31st Innovation Award was presented to Bernhard Winter, co-founder of Scewo AG, by Olaf J. B?hme, President of the Idee-Suisse Association, at a ceremony in Lucerne on 29 March 2019. The jury stated that the choice of Scewo was based on the fact that the innovative versatility of the wheelchair as a multitasker convinced the jury in terms of mobility, functionality and design. The young company is thus making an extremely useful contribution to people with disabilities and to the sustainable strengthening of the Swiss economy.
During the award event in Lucerne Roland Siegwart, Professor at the Institute for Robotics and Intelligent Systems at ETH Zurich, gave a keynote speech entitled "Switzerland, the Silicon Valley of Robotics?
The ETH spin-off Scewo originated from the focus project "Scalevo" and was founded in 2017 by Bernhard Winter, Pascal Buholzer and Thomas Gemperle. In September 2014, a team of ten ETH and ZHdK students started with the aim of developing a stair-climbing and self-balancing wheelchair. Four years and two prototypes later, Scewo presented its first purchasable model: Scewo Bro. The electric wheelchair self-balances on two wheels, can climb stairs and offers a seat that can be adjusted in many ways. The start-up has already received several awards for its work, most recently the ZKB Pionierpreis 2018 and the iF Design Award 2019. Today the team consists of 14 employees.