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Watch Medtech Challenge 2025: when watchmaking inspires the medicine of the future

Every year, the Watch Medtech Challenge highlights Swiss excellence at the intersection of watchmaking technology and medical innovation. In 2025, five finalist projects are competing for recognition with bold proposals that blend mechanical precision, biomedical expertise, and forward-looking vision. his edition highlights two particularly inspiring initiatives: DAES SA, with its digital simulation of the human torso, and BEMRC SA, with its fully mechanical syringe driver.

1. DAES SA – Digital Modeling to Transform the Treatment of Lower Back Pain

 

Lower back pain affects up to 75% of the adult population: a true modern scourge. Confronting this public health challenge, DAES SA, based in Petit-Lancy, is developing a digital model of the human torso to precisely simulate biomechanical interactions between medical devices and the human body.

 

Their approach, aligned with international validation standards (ASME V&V40), optimises device design in the preclinical phase by reducing reliance on lengthy and costly physical testing. Continuously enriched, this digital torso anticipates complications, evaluates mechanical performance, and supports personalized rehabilitation strategies. It marks a new era in Medtech design—one where technology serves prediction, safety, and above all, tangible patient benefit.

2. BEMRC SA – A mechanical syringe pump with watchmaker precision

 

Who would have thought that a spring inspired by watch barrels could find its place in a medical device? That is the bold innovation of BEMRC SA, the engineering firm based in Noës/Sierre, which has unveiled a fully mechanical syringe driver capable of ensuring continuous infusion through a winding mechanism.

 

With no battery or backup power supply, this system relies entirely on mechanical energy, offering a simple, robust and reliable solution in constrained or critical environments. Elegant yet functional, this innovation sits at the crossroads of watchmaking and healthcare, paving the way for autonomous, precise medical devices—ideal for responding to power outages or operating in regions with limited energy resources.

3. What happens next?

These two projects, along with the other finalists to be presented in the next edition, will benefit from tailored support by the Inartis Foundation—from prototype development to market access and industrialization.

The Watch Medtech Challenge is not just another competition. It is a showcase of unique Swiss know-how, capable of transforming centuries-old watchmaking principles into tomorrow’s healthcare solutions. And when these ideas take shape, the entire ecosystem—patients, clinicians, engineers—stands to gain.

Congratulations to DAES SA and BEMRC SA for their commitment and ingenuity. One step closer to a future where mechanical