Making a difference in the real world

If you pride yourself as one of Switzerland's hotbeds of innovation – as Empa usually does – then the grandiose words should be followed by action. After all, it is often not smart ideas that are lacking, but their implementation in practice, i.e. the transfer of technologies from the laboratory to the real world. And this is precisely one of our core concerns, combined with the aim of giving Swiss companies an innovative edge in the increasingly tough global competition.

At Empa, this technology transfer takes many different forms – be it through direct industry cooperation, Innosuisse-funded projects or by founding start-ups and supporting them in our business incubators.

If these endeavours are ultimately successful, they result in innovative products, such as a credit card made of wood, an optimized sports bra or a significantly improved luminescent material that makes the timepiece on your wrist easy to read even in the dark.

Our partners range from typical Swiss SMEs to large global corporations. What they have in common (like us) is a desire for innovative solutions that make our world a wee bit better.

We also showcased some of these innovations from our laboratories at our open lab day in mid-September on our new research campus, co-operate, in Dübendorf. The reactions to this and the encounters and discussions were overwhelmingly positive – many thanks again from this side to all our visitors!

Michael Hagmann
Head of Empa communication