Haelixa founder wins Prize for Women Innovators
The EU has recognised Michela Puddu, co-founder of ETH spin-off Haelixa, as a successful female innovator. She developed and now markets an innovative DNA-based tracers.
The European Commission has named former ETH doctoral student Michela Puddu, co-founder and CEO of the ETH spin-off Haelixa, as one of the winners of its 2019 Prize for Women Innovators. She received the Rising Innovator 2019 award for her pioneering business idea.
Puddu launched her spin-off Haelixa to apply and market a technology that she co-developed for her doctoral thesis in the group led by Wendelin Stark, Professor at the Institute of Chemical and Bioengineering at ETH Zurich. The technology is based on tracer materials composed of DNA that can be mixed with any fluid and item, providing it with a unique fingerprint. The DNA solution can, for example, make products traceable and detect counterfeits. The many application include labelling for products in the fair-trade or organic farming sectors. Haelixa’s offices and laboratories are located in the ieLab at ETH Zurich.
Awarded annually and financed under the EU’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme, the EU Prize for Women Innovators is awarded to women who have founded or a successful company based on their innovative ideas. The Rising Innovator category of the award is endowed with a prize of 50,000 euros. “Women are underrepresented in terms of creating innovative enterprises – only 31 percent of entrepreneurs in the EU are women,” writes the EU Commission in a press release. The aim of this award is to recognise successful women, motivate other women to start their own companies and raise public awareness of female entrepreneurship.
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