{"id":13448,"date":"2020-04-23T12:57:44","date_gmt":"2020-04-23T10:57:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ggba.swiss\/intensive-mask-use-the-solution-of-a-swiss-startup\/"},"modified":"2023-07-04T13:40:00","modified_gmt":"2023-07-04T11:40:00","slug":"intensive-mask-use-the-solution-of-a-swiss-startup","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ggba.swiss\/en\/intensive-mask-use-the-solution-of-a-swiss-startup\/","title":{"rendered":"Intensive mask use: the solution of a Swiss start-up"},"content":{"rendered":"

In the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Swiss start-up Helvitek Labs, based in Lausanne, has developed an add-on for protective masks to prevent bruising due to prolonged daily use by\u00a0healthcare workers.<\/h4>\n

Pictures circulated everywhere: hospital staff with bruised faces due to the compulsory daily use of surgical and\/or FFP2 masks. This new reality due to the COVID-19 pandemic prompted the team from\u00a0Helvitek Labs<\/a>,\u00a0a start-up based at the\u00a0EPFL Innovation Park<\/a><\/u>\u00a0in Lausanne, to react immediately.<\/p>\n

Since 2018, the company has been developing an urban anti-pollution mask which is filtering, breathable, elegant, but above all comfortable. The team has recently decided to use its know-how to think of a solution for caregivers. Its members focused on the development of a morphological facial structure that adapts to medical masks, which are not designed for prolonged wear. \u201cWe have brought together a group of specialists who have all collaborated together: our design office in Z\u00fcrich, BMCO<\/a><\/u>, Professor Bruno B\u00fcrgisser of the Fribourg University of Engineering and Architecture and members of\u00a0Inov3<\/a><\/u>, our industrialization partner based in Lausanne,\u201d explains Roberto Costa, co-founder of Helvitek Labs. The group is solution-oriented and works \u201cin a start-up spirit\u201d.<\/p>\n

Critical help from Vaud\u2019s economic and innovation partners<\/h4>\n

However, there are development costs, including the cost of designing a mold to test the product. It is the\u00a0Foundation for Technological Innovation (FIT<\/a>) which made it possible to solve this problem, by allocating, \u201cin record time\u201d, a loan of 100,000 Swiss francs to the young company, funds without which the project could not have succeeded.\u00a0The\u00a0Office for Economic Affairs and Innovation (SPEI<\/a>) also\u00a0supported the project.\u00a0Innovaud,<\/a>\u00a0the innovation promotion agency of the canton of Vaud, helped Helvitek Labs make itself known and to receive the financial help from the FIT. Within a month, the morphological facial structure was ready. Developed in medical elastomer, it is made in Switzerland. It remains to be tested, which the\u00a0Lausanne University Hospital<\/a><\/u>\u00a0agreed to do throughout April. As a result, in a few weeks and thanks to this incredible surge in efficiency and solidarity, the solution should be available to the healthcare workers of several medical establishments in the region.<\/p>\n

A Swiss solution, developed in a very\u00a0innovative region<\/h4>\n

For the moment, the start-up is focusing on Switzerland. \u201cOur idea was to solve a local problem. Our structure does not yet allow us to support international development, although of course we can imagine a partnership to supply foreign markets. We already have been approached by an American company,\u201d explains Roberto Costa.<\/p>\n

For the young company, which has interrupted the production of its anti-pollution masks, the experience has not been a waste of time, on the contrary. \u201cThis project acted as a catalyst. It allowed us to speed up our industrialization processes, to get in touch with or to secure partners with whom to work afterwards.\u201d Helvitek Labs does not plan to grow faster than expected. \u201cOur plans are unchanged, we will keep our initial ambition, which is to launch the industrialization of our anti-pollution mask, while ensuring the production of morphological structures. If this latest project brings us more liquidity than expected, it will be re-injected into research and development to develop other projects related to protection and masks,\u201d explains Th\u00e9o-Tim Denisart, co-founder of\u00a0Helvitek Labs. One thing, however, has profoundly changed: the context. \u201cBefore, during pitches to present our product, we needed a lot of time to explain to our interlocutors the interest of wearing a mask: particles, pollution, health concerns\u2026 Now, we can avoid these explanations. Wearing a mask has become a priority.\u201d<\/p>\n

This article was originally published on\u00a0www.innovaud.ch<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Swiss start-up Helvitek Labs, based in Lausanne, has developed an add-on for protective masks to prevent bruising due to prolonged daily use by\u00a0healthcare workers. Pictures circulated everywhere: hospital staff with bruised faces due to the compulsory daily use of surgical and\/or FFP2 masks. This new reality due […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":13449,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"mc4wp_mailchimp_campaign":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[839],"tags":[884,944],"class_list":["post-13448","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-tech-en","tag-covid-19","tag-design"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nIntensive mask use: the solution of a Swiss start-up - Greater Geneva Bern area<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/staging.ggba.swiss\/en\/intensive-mask-use-the-solution-of-a-swiss-startup\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Intensive mask use: the solution of a Swiss start-up - Greater Geneva Bern area\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"In the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Swiss start-up Helvitek Labs, based in Lausanne, has developed an add-on for protective masks to prevent bruising due to prolonged daily use by\u00a0healthcare workers. 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