Zurich – The winners of the digitalswitzerland challenge were chosen on Monday at Zurich’s Kraftwerk. Riva Digital emerged triumphant out of the 18 bets submitted. A second challenge with 10 new bets has already begun.

Of the 18 projects in the field of digitalization submitted as bets for the competition, 11 groups “reached the finish line”, according to digitalswitzerland. Four of them didn’t quite cross it on Monday at the Demo&Pitch Day challenge, but were awarded the Prix de Persévérance endurance prize by the jury. 

Of the seven competitors who placed their bets exactly one year ago, the group from the Zurich-based association Riva Digital was named the winner. It bet that it would develop a digital ecosystem that could lower high blood pressure. Riva Digital claimed the 10,000 Swiss franc prize for its blood pressure measuring app.

“With its cross-sector cooperation and mix of teams coming from large companies, startups and research, the challenge is unique and the initial results are impressive,” said Christian Wenger, president of digitalswitzerland. “The project proves once again that only those who dare have something to gain.”

At the same time as the winners of the first round were announced, the second round of the digitalswitzerland challenge was initiated on Monday. Ten new projects, also formulated as bets, will begin, and the next Demo&Pitch Day challenge in April 2019 will show how far they were able to win their bets.

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