European Commission Commits EUR 2.2m to Launch New Water Safety Technology
ZURICH, August 30, 2018 /PRNewswire/ --
The European Commission selected rqmicro, a Swiss startup company, among more than 1,200 competitors. This financial support accelerates the development and market launch of a revolutionary solution for the rapid detection of pathogenic microorganisms.
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Water is the most valuable resource for societies around the world and a natural habitat for a multitude of bacteria. Some are dangerous to human health. A key factor to assure the safety of drinking and industrial water is the detection of dangerous pathogenic bacteria. In particular, Legionella bacteria in water pose an emerging threat to public health.
Test results in two hours to detect dangerous Legionella in water
Today's standard detection methods take more than 10 days to deliver results. The Executive Agency for SMEs of the European Commission recognizes with its grant the urge to detect microbiological contamination more quickly. The mobile pathogen detection platform developed by rqmicro promises reliable monitoring of specific pathogens such as Legionella. Results are available in 1 to 2 hours, this consequently enables the fast localization and effective treatment of outbreaks.
It represents a special honor to be acclaimed as one of the top-class innovation projects in Europe for water and food safety. "My team and I deeply appreciate this level of recognition by the European Commission", Dr. Hans-Anton Keserue emphasizes, CEO and founder of rqmicro. The SME Instruments grant enables the Swiss company to accelerate the rollout of its technology to increase microbiological safety of water and food worldwide.
About the SME Instrument
The SME Instrument offers Europe's brightest and boldest entrepreneurs the chance to step forward and receive funding for breakthrough ideas with the potential to create entirely new markets or revolutionize existing ones. The grant is for small and medium-sized enterprises with a relevant, sound and strategic business plan and the ambition to scale up internationally.
rqmicro
rqmicro stands for rapid and quantitative microbiology and is a spin-off from ETH Zurich in Switzerland. It develops and markets rapid microbiological tests to improve overall water and food safety. The company embraces the vision that consumers worldwide benefit from microbiological-contamination free water and food. A crucial step towards realizing that vision is to detect contamination quickly and accurately. rqmicro develops solutions on the basis of immunomagnetic separation, microfluidics and flow cytometry. Website: http://www.rqmicro.com
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