18 March 2011. Four nominees had managed to reach the shortlist, among them Jan Gerber and Yuan Yao and their town map project, “A la Carte Maps”; Michel Bachmann’s social entrepreneur idea, “Hub Zürich”; and the university project, www.bookrecycling.ch, which provides students with a simple possibility of dealing in used (text)books.

The innovative character of the winning project, “Dacuda”
In the end, the specialist five-member jury chaired by Prof. Dr. Dietmar Grichnik were swayed by Alexander Ilic and the "Dacuda” digitalisation technology project. During the presentation of the prize, it was the innovative character of the product marketed by Ilic that was emphasised. “Dacuda” is a new kind of scanner mouse, which is intended to be available worldwide from mid-2011 and will be able to scan in texts, tables and pictures in a cost-effective way.

Great market potential
In the reasons given by the jury, it says: “The business idea of this year’s prize winner is based on the development of a new complex technology that is a world leader and enjoys global protection. It is therefore not only impressive because of its very high degree of innovation, but particularly on account of its inherent market potential.” Alexander Ilic is the first winner of the CHF 10,000 HSG Founder Prize.

Four weeks of the HSG Founders’ Garage
In the past four weeks, about 50 projects were presented in the context of the HSG Founders’ Garage, which focused on an exchange of ideas and experience among start-ups and service providers.