Spark Award
ETH Zurich gives the Spark Award for the most promising invention that resulted in a patent application in the past year. The criteria for the evaluation are orginality, patent strength and market potential.
Spark Award 2025
The winner of the Spark Award 2025 will be announced at ETH Zurich @ Open-i 2025, which is the innovation event for industry. More information on the award ceremony and the finalists will follow on this site. Reserve the date:
Thursday, 27 November 2025, at the Zurich Convention Center
Proudly announcing the Top 5 finalists
Miniaturized liquid handling for high-throughput screening and advanced lab automation
Dr. Maximilian Breitfeld, Dr. Claudius L. Dietsche, Prof. Petra S. Dittrich
Light-powered oxygen sensor for sustainable environmental and industrial monitoring
Prof. Máté Bezdek, Lionel Wettstein
Soft finger exoskeleton to assist grasping in rehabilitation and robotics
Rafael Bänziger, Dr. Jan Dittli, Prof. Roger Gassert, Prof. Olivier Lambercy, Raffaele Ranzani, Jaeyong Song, Natalie Tanczak
RAPTURE: Multi-metal additive manufacturing of high-performance aerospace and industrial components
Dion Pirchl, Dr. Michael Tucker, Raphael Steffen, Prof. Markus Bambach
POP-cycle: electrochemical recycling of organic pollutants into hydrocarbons and table salt
Patrick T. Domke, Dr. Alberto F. Garrido-Castro, Prof. Bill Morandi
contact: ETH transfer / Melanie Johnson