Announcement of finalists of Philips Innovation Award 2018

The Philips Innovation Award 2018 has chosen its 8 finalists during the Semi-final at the 27th of March in Rotterdam. Passionate pitches by the 30 semi-finalists and heated debates eventually led to a decision by the jury. AcaBoo, Circal Technologies, Closure, Ratio, IV Wear, SPIKE Mobility, Medcore & Opt Medical won a ticket to the Final at the 7st of May.

Five finalists

Rough Diamonds

Ratio Ratio technology enables engineering companies to develop better products in less time and at fewer costs by structuring design documentation, automatically checking its consistency and deriving, visualizing, and optimizing the system architecture.

Medcore Medcore wants clinical professionals to have more, intuitive control over the digital systems used in medicine, which are increasing in number and complexity. They want to contribute to a future clinicans’ ability, rather than means to ends. This results in better care and faster, more user-centred innovation in medical technology.

Circal Technologies Circal Technologies turns emissions into valuable resources. They redirect exhaust gasses of containerships to their proprietary Algae Producing Units. This way, they can clean up to 17% of all CO2 emissions worldwide.

Innovators

Closure For relatives who need to end or change subscriptions, contracts and accounts of their loved one that have has passed away, Closure is a service that completely takes care of it. Relatives can easily indicate the companies that need to be informed.

IV Wear Scientific research shows that movement beneits recovery. However, the ordinary IV-system hinders this movement. The device is big, heavy and visible. IV wear has developed a portable IV-system to improve patient mobility. In this way, the patient is able to move freely!

Opt Medical More than 142 million women lack acc­ess to suitable contraception (source: UN). Opt Medical is dedicated to understanding and solving this problem through thorough research and innovative design. Their goal is to provide fitting contraceptive solutions, primarily for women in low-income countries who feel their family is complete.

SPIKE Mobility The goal of SPIKE Mobility  goal is to electrify Africa by bringing electric mobility to Africa, starting in Kenya. Currently they are investigating the opportunities of e-mobility in Kenya.

AcaBoo AcaBoo believes in easy access to knowledge, for everyone! They have developed a bookstreaming service, so students can get unlimited access to all study books that they need. All of this for a monthly fee.

Final

The Award celebrates its 13th anniversary this year. With more than 100 participating teams, the amount of participants has tripled compared to previous years. The winner will be chosen at the Final at the 7th of May. The jury will be presided over by Frans van Houten (CEO of Philips). In addition, Kees van Dijkhuizen (CEO ABN AMRO), Janus Smalbraak (CEO Pon) & Margot Scheltema will be the jury members. The winner of the Innovator league takes home a prize worth €50.000. The winner of the Rough Diamong league (startups have been founded after 1 October 2017), will win a prize worth €10.000.

Platform

The Philips Innovation Award is not merely a competition. The platform of the Award consists of four Stages (Idea Stage, Developing Stage, Refining Stage and Final Stage). In each Stage, the participants are stimulated and helped with the transformation of their idea into a succesful start-up. Many participants have used the Award to take the first steps towards valorisation of their innovative ideas.

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