PERL Awards for 3 Start-ups linked to IC

PERL Award for Wizzy Education Technologies
The "Prix Entreprendre Région Lausanne" PERL 2013 awarded three companies that are close to the EPFL School of Computer and Communication Sciences IC.
The first prize goes to DomoSafety, which was co-founded by 3 former EPFL students in Communication Systems - Edouard Goupy, Guillaume Dupasquier and David Schmalz – and which develops risk-prevention systems for elderly people at their home. The proposed smart solution provides a highly secured living environment, meeting the needs of elderly people, their relatives and the homecare services. Flexible and based on cutting-edge technologies, the system allows not only to identify emergency situations, but also to prevent risk situations to appear.
The "Micro-Enterprise" award was received by Wizzy Education Technologies, founded in Ecublens by three former IC students – Thomas Lochmatter, Sebastien Cuendet and Jean-Philippe Pellet. The start-up has developed the Wizbee software for learning, among others, German, English and mathematics, by offering fun and educational activities and exercises based on the French-speaking Swiss curriculum. Wizbee is used by many French-speaking students, both in schools and at home. The goal is to eventually cover the entire program. "We are very pleased and honored. This award is a recognition of our work during the past two years," says Sébastien Cuendet. "We are working on the visualization of the results, so that each student and his parents can monitor his progress and move on at his own pace. This visualization should be completed this summer."
Tinynode SA, which develops and markets wireless systems for vehicle detection, was awarded the 3rd prize. Tinynode is a spin-off from Shockfish SA, which has collaborated with the National Center of Competence in Research in Mobile Information and Communication Systems NCCR MICS of the IC School, on the development of self-organized wireless sensor systems. With the democratization of smartphones, motorists are ready for a smart parking solution. "It only needed a reliable outdoor detection system at a competitive price," explains Pierre Castella, CEO of Tinynode. "What we offer today is the last piece of the puzzle."
The PERL award recognizes innovative projects with a substantial contribution to the Lausanne region.