First "Environmental Award of the Economy" goes to ecoRobotix
The first environmental award of the Swiss Environmental Foundation integrated three pioneering companies. Finally, the newly designed award "Environmental Prize of the Economy" has been awarded to ecoRobotix from Vaud. In the future, the prize will be awarded in partnership with the Swiss Economic Forum, within the framework of a new platform.
In the future, the "Environmental Prize of the Economy" will be awarded in partnership with Swiss Economic Forum. The subsidiary of the NZZ Media Group is launching a new platform for this, the Circular Economy Forum. In addition to the main event at which the prize will be awarded, smaller events will also take the topic of circular economy to the regions, explained Dominik Isler, CEO of Swiss Economic Forum. "We are committed because the future of the economy can only be sustainable," said Dominik Isler.
Fertilizing robot with advantages
Steve Tanner, a farmer's son, once had to watch his classmates have afternoons off while he helped out in his father's fields. That, he says, was the motivation to study robotics. Later, Tanner founded ecoRobotix together with Aurélien Demaurex - originally a banker. The young company from Yverdon is developing a robot with all-round vision that independently detects weeds in the field and precisely destroys them.
Solar operation makes the robot completely independent in terms of energy supply, even when the sky is overcast. At the same time, it works up to 12 hours a day - thanks to GPS completely without human control. Other environmental benefits: It needs less fertilizer and it doesn't touch crops - "We're protecting nature because no weed killer gets into the food or feed," Demaurex says.
Aurélien Demaurex was able to receive the first-ever Environmental Prize of the Economy for ecoRobotix on Tuesday on the MS Diamant on Lake Lucerne. The prize, initially endowed with 20,000 Swiss francs, is awarded by the Swiss Environmental Foundation. However, some business angels and the Swiss government are already backing this year's nominated companies.
EcoRobotix was founded back in 2011 in Yverdon. Meanwhile, the small company has conducted research and pilot projects in water protection areas of Nestlé Waters Switzerland as well as other European agricultural areas. In May 2018, the company signed a so-called Series B for CHF 10.6 million (EUR 9.2 million) with promising investors.
Among them are Capagro and BASF Venture Capital as well as private financing partners. The award winner from Yverdon is now trying to enter the European agricultural market.
Good prospects: new label
"This award shows us that we are on the right track," Demaurex is quoted as saying in a statement from the Environmental Foundation. "It inspires us to use technology for the environment." The vision of the two founders is that in as little as ten years, robots will be working in all fields while farmers struggle to use them properly.
Bühler Insect Technology Solutions and Carbon Delta also made it to the final of the award. The subsidiary of Uzwil-based millwright Bühler builds systems for the industrial breeding and processing of insects for animal feed. The Zurich-based fintech company Carbon Delta uses its software to help institutional investors assess the carbon footprint and climate risk of their investments.
The central message on the evening of the Environmental Award was that sustainability is no longer at odds with successful business. On the contrary. The nominated companies prove that their products and services are successful on the market not despite, but precisely because of their ecological qualities. The guests at the first award ceremony agreed that all three nominated companies would have been worthy winners.
They all had the potential to trigger the desired change in awareness in the business community.
The selection of future award winners will be made by Go for Impact. The association, founded in February, is made up of the Federal Office for the Environment, economiesuisse, öbu, PUSCH, scienceindustries, Swissmem, Swiss Textiles and WWF. As Kurt Lanz, president of the association and member of the management board of economiesuisse, explained, the candidates are nominated by the association's partners.
The award ceremony on Lake Lucerne was the kick-off for something bigger. Starting in 2019, the "Environmental Business Award" will be presented as part of a new circular economy conference of the Swiss Economic Forum (SEF). SEF CEO Dominik Isler is excited about this new collaboration:
"We want this new circular economy conference to be a showcase both internally and externally, where we can showcase innovative projects from Switzerland. The prize is the ideal complement for this." The final selection will then be made by a jury, he said. In the future, the prize will be endowed with 30,000 Swiss francs.
For more information about the Swiss Business Environment Award, please visit
www.umweltpreis-der-wirtschaft.ch or
