CSEM announces the 2025 ACCELERATE cohort
Four deep-tech future start-ups join the program to turn breakthrough research into market-ready technologies.
CSEM has announced the four promising entrepreneurial projects selected for its ACCELERATE Program 2025, an initiative designed to help transform deep-tech innovations into market-ready solutions. This year’s participants represent diverse fields spanning Medtech, Digital Health, Sustainable Energy and Advanced Photonics united by one ambition: redefining how technology enhances daily lives.
The cohort includes two CSEM internal participants and three external members, highlighting the program’s role as a bridge between internal technology research and Switzerland’s start-up ecosystem. The four innovative projects are:
SmartHear
SmartHear is a next-generation neurotechnology platform bridging hearing science and cognitive health. Using AI and in-ear precision sensing, it transforms auditory assessment and training into a personalised, adaptive experience that reflects each user’s unique brain activity. Untreated hearing impairment is now recognised as the leading modifiable risk factor for Alzheimer’s disease and dementia – making early intervention a critical path to preserving brain health. By decoding the brain’s auditory responses, SmartHear trains the neural pathways that support listening, focus, and lifelong cognitive health.
"SmartHear will make training your hearing as natural as training your body,” says Zahra Khaliliardali founder of SmartHear. “We’re turning prevention into a daily habit and bringing neurotechnology into everyday life — accessible, personalized, and profoundly human."
Needless
For decades, blood and needles have been the default for checking our health. Needless develops a simple, wearable patch that measures key health signals through the skin, no blood required. Their platform opens the door to effortless, painless health monitoring that can be done anywhere – helping shift diagnostics from invasive to invisible.
“We’ve accepted needles and blood draws as a necessary part of healthcare for too long. At Needless, we’re driven by the belief that we can do better – by bringing comfort, simplicity, and innovation together in one small patch,” shares Brad Petkus, co-founder with Gabriel Christmann of Needless
HelioW
The company develops ultra-light, high-efficiency solar cells and modules to power the next generation of satellites. Built on breakthrough materials, these flexible modules cut weight and costs while enabling entirely new satellite designs. With tens of thousands of satellites expected to operate in orbit, and Europe seeking greater autonomy in space technologies, HelioW offers a timely solution to a rapidly growing market.
“With the ACCELERATE program, HelioW benefits from deep solar materials expertise, hands-on technical support, and early access to funding and partners,” says Simon Russeil, founder of HelioW. “This collaboration allows HelioW to move from concept to a space market-ready product extremely fast.”
SecondWave
SecondWave is redefining material detection with a miniaturised spectroscopy sensor that identifies any substance instantly and with lab-grade precision. Compact enough to fit inside a smartphone, it transforms everyday devices into powerful chemical analysers for healthcare, food industry, and security while forgoing bulky equipment. Making advanced detection accessible anywhere at any time, it sets a new standard for portable material analyses. "We’re turning every phone into a lab redefining how the world detects and analyse substances," says Andrea Morandi, founder of SecondWave.
Looking Ahead
“The ACCELERATE Program is much more than a support mechanism; it’s a launchpad for the next generation of Swiss deep-tech innovators, we are proud to welcome these entrepreneurs whose technologies could soon transform industries and deliver tangible benefits to society,” says Bahaa Roustom, VP Marketing & Business Development, CSEM. With the new cohort now on board, CSEM is set to write the next chapter in Switzerland’s innovation journey. Applications for the next ACCELERATE cohort are open until the end of January 2026.
Caption: From left to right, Bradley Petkus, Gabriel Christmann (Needless), Zahra Khaliliardali (SmartHear), Andrea Morandi (SecondWave), Simon Russeil (HelioW) and Bahaa Roustom (VP Marketing & Business Development, CSEM) (image: CSEM).
Source: CSEM
www.csem.ch/en