Three startups admitted into the USC incubation programme

On Wednesday, October 2nd, the fourth edition of the Incubation Kick-off Pitch was held at the East Campus. Three early-stage startups presented their innovative solutions, ranging from green energy to industrial inspections and AI-enabled diagnostics.

The Incubation Kick-off Pitch, first introduced in 2022, is an event that aims to introduce early-stage science-driven startups entering the two-year incubation programme offered by the USI Startup Centre to the academic and innovation community. During the event, founders present their project in a 10-minute pitch, followed by a Q&A session. This dynamic format encourages interaction paving the way for valuable connections and future collaborations with other startups, researchers, students, and stakeholders from the local innovative ecosystem. 

A key highlight of this edition was the awarding of “Incubation programme vouchers” to the three presenting startups and to three projects from the previous edition. These vouchers represent the total value of the services and support that each incubated startup will receive throughout the incubation period. The USI Startup Centre team offers a comprehensive programme that supports innovative startup projects originating from academia and includes structured coaching activities, specialised advisory from vertical experts, dedicated workshops, and assistance with grant applications and fundraising. Luca Maria Gambardella, Pro-Rector for Innovation and Corporate Relations, stated:

"It is with great pleasure that we welcome three new startups - DEC Energy, Flycatcher, and Skinmind, all of which have strong scientific ties to our university - into the USI Startup Centre’s incubation programme. Thanks to the professionalism, support, and coaching provided by our team—whom I will never stop thanking—we are, for the first time, enhancing the incubation journey of our startups by awarding each of them a voucher worth 60,000 CHF in in-kind support. The same voucher was also awarded to Foldcast, Elysium, and InCatalyst, startups admitted in incubation earlier this year."

Presented startups

DEC Energy – a startup building a B2B marketplace where solar plant owners rent their assets, DEC tokenizes them and lists rentals of single solar panels to be purchased by corporates to make their electricity consumption renewable.

Flycatcher – a startup providing safe, reliable, cost-effective AI-driven inspection solutions for industries and large-scale infrastructures.

Skinmind – a startup that provides a highly accurate AI-powered system for early skin cancer detection.