Objective
noonee was founded in 2014 as spin-off from the robotics lab of ETH Zurich. The mission of noonee is to develop and distribute exoskeleton-like devices specifically tailored to the needs of industry. Caused by the demographic change, the European workforce is continuously ageing. This represents a huge challenge for the employment across all sectors. Since older workers are becoming a growing part of the workforce and people must work for longer, appropriate measures to improve working conditions and obtain health are becoming a main priority. Even though workers in manufacturing plants are constantly ranked among the occupations with highest prevalence of musculoskeletal disorders, the problem of bad workplace ergonomics is still very present. With our first product, the Chairless Chair, we are directly addressing the physical needs of workers in manufacturing and processing industries. The idea is to provide lowerback support to workers that normally must stand all day long and often in awkward body postures. Through close collaboration with large automotive and manufacturing companies, the Chairless Chair was specifically tailored to fit the needs of these workers in terms of usability, health benefits and user acceptance. In parallel, the Chairless Chair helps companies to save high amounts of costs related to sick or absent workers, fluctuating performance and the establishment of age-neutral and ergonomic workplaces. Based on the present first-mover advantage and a product that perfectly fits the nerve of time, the full commercialisation of our Chairless Chair will position noonee as market leader in the segment for wearable ergonomics mechatronic devices. To achieve this goal, the fast establishment of a European and global distribution channel is foreseen. During the first 5 years of commercialisation, we expect to generate cumulative revenues of 32 million € and establish at least 37 new jobs at noonee and more than 30 new jobs at our global distributors.
Fields of science
- social sciencessociologydemography
- engineering and technologymechanical engineeringvehicle engineeringautomotive engineering
- social scienceseconomics and businessbusiness and managementemployment
- engineering and technologyelectrical engineering, electronic engineering, information engineeringelectronic engineeringrobotics
- social sciencespsychologyergonomics
Programme(s)
Funding Scheme
SME-2 - SME instrument phase 2Coordinator
73779 DEIZISAU
Germany
The organization defined itself as SME (small and medium-sized enterprise) at the time the Grant Agreement was signed.