International Research Cooperations IRC

Global challenges can only be tackled through multilateral partnerships and extensive international networking between research institutions, private organisations and public authorities. To find scientific and technological solutions to these problems and to best exploit the resulting innovations Empa is thus fostering and expanding its cooperative network through bilateral collaborations, participation in international research programs and the exchange of talented scientists.
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Scientific knowledge and technical knowhow are global commodities. In order to tap into these and transfer them into practical applications, Empa cooperates with numerous international partners, which is also reflected in the scientific papers published by Empa researchers: way more than half were published with partners from abroad.

Global Networking under the Banner of Innovation

Top-flight research and a proximity to industry – these are the two poles, between which Empa operates. The institute is able to offer its partners tailored solutions thanks to efficient and individual forms of collaboration and a broad spectrum of services. Whether it be with a view to developing new products and applications, optimizing technologies, solving specific problems or bringing technical specialists up to the state of the art – with around 550 highly qualified scientists and top-class infrastructure, Empa is just the place to be.

Some examples may illustrate the international engagement. Empa is a partner in the EU Flagship project “Graphene”. Started in 2013 and running for (at least) ten years this pan-European R&D activity concentrates on all aspects of this highly innovative material. Empa investigates, amongst other things, the electronic properties of this carbon network and potential hazards to health and the environment. And in 2014, the UN Environmental Program (UNEP) published an expert report on ozone depletion, for which Empa provided one of the lead authors.

Cooperations from Dusk till Dawn
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Empa's institutional network is truly global, stretching from the Far East – the National Insti-tute for Material Science (NIMS) in Japan, which is Emp's co-publisher for the journal "Science and Technology of Advanced Materials", and the Korea Institute of Science and Technology (KIST), to name but a few – all the way to Western US, for instance the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) in California and the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico (LANL), not to mention the numerous European partner institutes.

Together with 49 "sister institutions" the world over Empa is a member of the World Materials Research Institutes Forum (WMRIF) founded in 2005. It supports innovations in the field of materials science through information exchange, shared use of research facilities and by sketching out global strategies for future materials science

Head IRC

Prof. Dr. Tanja Zimmermann
Director

Phone: +41 58 765 4115

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