A total of 450,000 Swiss francs will be awarded to Foldcast, Kyra (which predicts grid bottlenecks), and Subatron (wireless underwater communication), all of which have reached the second stage of the Venture Kick program. Each team will receive up to CHF 150,000 over a maximum of 18 months for research and development.

Foldcast tackles the exact area where the construction industry generates the most CO2: concrete. Around eight percent of global CO2 emissions stem from the industry, and conventional timber and metal formwork make material-efficient construction nearly impossible. The result is a systematic “excess” of concrete. Foldcast replaces this formwork with digitally fabricated, recyclable paper molds that are precisely tailored to the optimal structural geometry. This ensures that concrete is only placed where it is truly needed.

According to Foldcast, their paper formwork is five times cheaper and ten times faster to produce than traditional alternatives. This allows for savings of up to 50 percent in materials and 40 percent in embodied energy. Following successful full-scale prototypes and initial pilot projects, the team is currently working on “Derma,” a prefabricated facade system, and is preparing the technology for industrial application. The InnoBooster grant is intended to accelerate this exact step toward market entry.

We wish the entire Foldcast team the best of luck. This helps us all!