These are the winners of the Digital Economy Awards 2024

This year's Digital Economy Awards were presented at the Hallenstadion Zurich on Thursday. 27 finalists battled for victory. Eight of them won a prize, according to the association and organizer of the event, SwissICT.

These are this year's award winners:

• Switzerland Tourism with Artifact in the "Digital Innovation of the Year" category for the creation of "hAIdi". According to the press release, the virtual assistant is intended to provide representatives of Swiss tourism destinations with low-threshold, AI-based access to complex data on Swiss tourism and support sustainable decisions.
• The company Robonnement from Altstätten SG took first place in the "Digital Excellence Commercial" category. The Eastern Swiss start-up and spin-off of a supplier produces and trains robots and sells them on a subscription basis as "industrial robots as a service".
• Accident insurer Suva won in the "Digital Excellence Government & NPO" category with the largest project in its 100-year history to date: with "SmartCare", the company is driving forward the digitalization of claims management, which should give employees more resources for complex tasks.
• The winning project in the "Next Global Hot Thing - in AI" category comes from Cradle. A platform on which biologists can use generative AI to design and optimize proteins more quickly. Cradle reduces the series of experiments required to date by up to 75 percent - saving time and money and significantly increasing the success rate, according to the report.
• UBS won in the "ICT Education Excellence" category. Its vocational training is characterized by a wide range of offers and support programs for ICT apprentices and employees, with an exemplary rotation principle. The strategic direction of vocational training is reviewed and developed annually, with the active involvement of apprentices.
• Fredy Künzler, CEO and founder of Init7, won "The Pascal" award for his many years of commitment to the industry, in the debate about the right fiber optic technology and for affordable, fast Internet. According to the jury's statement, his success in the fiber optic dispute against the "ex-monopolist" Swisscom will enable "future diversity" in the choice of provider.
• In the "NextGen Hero" category, the audience at the Hallenstadion in Zurich chose one winner. Selina Pfyffer and David Cleres impressed the audience with their projects in 90-second pitches. Pfyffer demonstrated outstanding leadership qualities with her start-up SeasonCell, which aims to develop solutions for an emission-free future. Cleres is co-founder of GirlsCodeToo, a non-profit organization that aims to inspire girls to take on leadership roles in the technology industry through early mentoring. "A tangible contribution to bridging the gender gap in technology," was the jury's verdict. (Joël Orizet/cka)

This article first appeared in Netzwoche.