BIND 2026 highlights Western Switzerland’s life sciences innovation pipeline

BioAlps, Western Switzerland’s life sciences cluster, hosted the 2026 edition of BIND – BioInnovation Day on 1 April at CHUV in Lausanne, drawing a record 340 participants from academia, healthcare, industry, and investment. The event featured 29 early-stage life sciences pitches spanning biotech, medtech, pharma, and digital health, alongside a roundtable, an investor session, and a keynote address by Vincent Delattre, CEO of Onward. Four standout projects received awards and support recognizing their potential to address major unmet needs in medicine and health technologies.

Dexterous Endoscopes, an EPFL spin-off, received the Best Startup award, sponsored by Lenz & Staehelin (CHF 5,000). The company is developing a next-generation variable-stiffness endoscope that combines the navigational flexibility of soft instruments with the precision of rigid tools, targeting ENT, urinary, and gastrointestinal procedures. The project has recently secured CHF 150,000 through Venture Kick and CHF 250,000 from the Canton of Vaud.

PreciMune, developed at UNIL-CHUV with support from the Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research, received the Best Academic Project award, sponsored by KT UNIL-CHUV and UNITEC (CHF 5,000). The project is advancing a proprietary immune profiling platform for highly sensitive immune repertoire analysis, supporting more precise patient selection, earlier treatment monitoring, and next-generation therapy development. PreciMune also received a FIT-InnoTREK grant in early 2026.

Two further projects received dedicated support. Impli AG, based at Biopôle, received the H4 Award for its real-time hormone monitoring device targeting fertility care, IVF monitoring, and hormone-related health management, a project that recently gained international visibility through a strategic partnership with Bayer. MoleSense, another EPFL project, received the CSEM Award for its needle-free wearable patch for continuous, non-invasive monitoring of reproductive health biomarkers, with an initial focus on high-risk pregnancies. The company recently received CHF 100,000 from the Fondation pour l’Innovation Technologique and will receive strategic and technological support from CSEM.

Originally launched by UNITEC and KT UNIL-CHUV to showcase academic life sciences research from Western Switzerland, BIND has been organized by BioAlps since 2025. The next edition is planned for Geneva in 2027.