Over the last two weeks, students and startups have come together at the global finals of the University Startup World Cup 2022. Category finals were hosted at the China International Import Expo on November 6th and the final award show at the World Young Scientist Summit on November 12th by our main partner Venture Cup China.
The startups have been pitching and competing against hundreds of startups from more than 50 different countries world wide. On the 12th of December 2022, the two overall winners from the early-stage and growth-stage startups were announced.
Overall Winners
Bronwyn Bridges receiving the award for best early-stage startup in USWC 2022
Congratulations to the overall winner for early-stage startups PragmaClin Research Inc. from Memorial University of Newfoundland, Canada. Congratulations to co-founders Bronwyn Bridges, Gord Genge and the rest of the team from PragmaClin Research Inc.
Since it was established in 2020, PragmaClin has helped patients with Parkinson’s disease. With its flagship software, PRIMS, the company provides a novel approach to managing neurological diseases in order to get the patients help faster with more accurate results.
After receiving the award, Co-founder Bronwyn Bridges explained how she and the team felt: “On behalf of myself and PragmaClin, we are beyond excited to have received this honor! The recognition of knowing that what we are doing is going to make a difference not just in Canada but worldwide is truly amazing,” she said and continued:
“The University Startup World Cup has allowed us to showcase our work on an international stage and make connections to last a lifetime. We plan on beginning trials in 2023 and are seeking both research partners as well as funding to move to the next phase of commercialization. We are hoping to scale globally to ensure our solution meets those who need it most, and we would love to hear from anyone interested in working with us.”
Read more about PragmaClin Research Inc.
Mikael Hemniti Winther, Consul-General of Denmark in Shanghai, presenting the award for best growth-stage startup in USWC 2022 for Harry Chen from E3A Healthcare Pte. Ltd.
Also, congratulations to the overall winner for growth-stage startups E3A Healthcare Pte Ltd from the National University of Singapore. Congratulations to CEO, Shawn S. LI, CMO, Harry Chen, and the rest of the team from E3A Healthcare Pte Ltd.
E3A was established in March 2019 at the National University of Singapore and has rapidly developed into a leader in smart newborn and women’s health medical devices. E3A is redesigning the existing outdated medical devices in newborn and women’s health, producing sleek products that could be used at home. This has revolutionized products that had been overlooked for many years and lacked innovation, including neonatal jaundice, fertility health, pelvic floor health, and menstrual pain management. Multiple E3A products have completed registration and clearance from FDA and CFDA(NMPA).
From the stage, after receiving the award, CMO of E3A Healthcare, Harry Chen, said: “We had the honor of participating in the University Startup World Cup back in 2020 as an early-stage startup. And since these past two years the USWC has witnessed growth from a team of 3 people to a team of 20 today. From a company with no products to completing our first successful product launch,” he explained and continued:
“We deeply believe that entrepreneurship is one of the biggest driving forces for the betterment of humanity and we strive to continue our efforts to deliver better healthcare solutions for women and newborn worldwide, especially to regions that previously lacked access. So once again, it is a huge honor for us to receive this prize and this award will be a token of encouragement for us to continue to put in the hard work and to strive for higher goals and to create visible impact on a global scale.”
Category Winners
Finally, congratulations to all the category winners in both early- and growth-stage teams from the Digital, Green, Health and Social categories.
Early-Stage
Digital: Ventyr AS from The Arctic University of Norway
Green: StaySeat ApS from Technical University of Denmark
Health: PragmaClin Research Inc. from Memorial University of Newfoundland
Social: HumAid from University of Southern Denmark
Growth-Stage
Digital: Synectify from National University of Singapore
Green: Salubata from Draper University and Asel-Tech from Université Grenoble Alpes
Health: E3A Healthcare Pte Ltd from University of Singapore and Emay Gene
Social: Hollo from The University of Hong Kong
A great thanks and congratulations to all startups who participated in this year’s competition. Special thanks to our main partner Venture Cup China and to all our international country partners who have helped realize a lot of students’ potential when enrolling the startups in the USWC.
Thanks to USWC sponsors Hempel Foundation, Innovation Foundation, Fonden for Entreprenørskab, IDA, McKinsey & Co, Vækstfonden, Metro-Schrøder-Fonden and to Claus Raasted, director at the College of Extraordinary Experiences, for hosting an engaging and inspiring workshop for the startups.
