India

Swiss Assistive Tech Startups Target Indian Market

Swiss assistive technology startups to explore partnerships, pilots and pathways into the Indian market.

Bengaluru | October 1, 2025

Four Swiss startups will travel to India from October 9 to October 16 to explore market entry, partnerships and growth opportunities in the country’s rapidly evolving assistive technology landscape. They will engage with key stakeholders while contributing to global advancements in assistive technologies.

In the weeks leading up to the visit, participants will take part in online modules and coaching sessions and during the programme, they will gain first-hand insights into India’s assistive technology ecosystem through workshops and sector immersion, and participate in five to six curated bilateral meetings with relevant public, private and civil-society actors, supported by structured briefings and debriefings. The startups will also present their innovations to a large and diverse audience of ecosystem players at major sector events, including the International Purple Fest in Goa, and will receive post-programme follow-up support to build on partnerships and opportunities identified during the visit.

This is part of AssiStart: Indo-Swiss Assistive Technology Week 2025, powered by Innosuisse and managed by Swissnex in India. The market exploration will be supported by the AssisTech Foundation (ATF).

Read more about the participating startups below:

  • DAAV | DAAV is an assistive-tech startup that was born as a spin-off of Swiss Federal Technology Institute of Lausanne (EPFL). They work on enhancing airport mobility for passengers with reduced mobility. Their flagship product, DAAV-air, is an autonomous, omnidirectional robotic wheelchair equipped with AI-enabled navigation to maneuver through crowded environments with precision and ease without the need for human assistance. Their wheelchairs have various modes including ‘follow-me’, where the wheelchair uses sensors to automatically follow a companion (like a family member or airport staff) without needing manual control; ‘full autonomy’, where the wheelchair navigates entirely on its own—the passenger selects a destination (boarding gate, restroom) and the chair drives there safely, avoiding obstacles and crowds; ‘tele-operation’, where a remote operator (airport staff member) can guide the chair via a control system, if the user needs assistance or is in tricky environments. This allows passengers flexibility and independence while ensuring safety and comfort. Headquartered in Biel, Switzerland, DAAV offers its robotic wheelchair solution to airports and ground-handling firms through subscription-based plans.
  • Lighthouse | Lighthouse empowers visually impaired and blind individuals through their intuitive and stylish eyewear products. Their TAMI eyeframes are worn like regular glasses and discreetly scan for overhead and upper-body obstacles, areas that traditional mobility aids like white canes can miss, and alert the user via gentle haptic feedback. They don’t replace traditional mobility aids but rather complement them. The TAMI frames are lightweight, come in multiple unisex styles and colours and can even support prescription lenses.
  • Magnes | Magnes’ NUSHU smart shoes transform mobility in people with neurological conditions such as Parkinson’s Disease, multiple sclerosis (MS), dementia, and also in elderly individuals who are at risk of falling. Their shoes are wearable devices, embedded with sensors and AI algorithms that are able to perform clinical-grade gait analysis and provide real-time biofeedback. This means that if the system detects that a user’s walking pattern is unstable or irregular, the shoe will vibrate in a specific way to alert them to correct their step, slow down or shift balance without needed visual or auditory cues. The sensors monitor gait patterns continuously as patients go about daily activities and AI analyses the movement data for clinical insights and automatic reporting. Born as a spin-off of ETZ Zurich, Magnes’ shoes address pressing needs in neurological care.
  • DeepPsy specialises in advancing personalised psychiatric treatment by offering clinicians a more objective and data-driven approach to mental healthcare as opposed to trial-and-error treatment selection that can be inefficient. Their algorithms analyse biological signals rather than relying on symptom-based guesswork in treating mental illnesses such as depression and other emerging neuropsychiatric conditions. They develop algorithms to process electroencephalography (EEG) and electrocardiography (ECG) data and extract biomarkers that correlate with patients’ likelihood of responding positively to various psychiatric treatments. Their science-backed reports help psychiatrists identify individualised responses early and choose treatments accordingly, thereby shortening time to effective care and enhancing outcomes for mental health patients.