Empa opens its doors to the public

How does it actually work – research? How does it help us to tackle climate change and master the energy transition? How can we all live sustainably and well in the future? And what does all this have to do with new materials?

Empa will be providing answers to these and other questions at its Open Lab Day on 14 September in Dübendorf. From 10 am to 5 pm, visitors are invited to explore the new research campus and find out more about research at Empa at numerous booths. Five exciting themed worlds await them, providing answers to the pressing questions of our time.

Under the keyword Energy Transition, the research institute shows, for example, what batteries sound like, how berry juice can be turned into solar cells and how to store summer heat for the winter. In the Climate Change topical area, visitors can learn how the greenhouse effect works, how CO₂ can be captured from the atmosphere and processed into innovative, sustainable products and why drones can be good for the environment.

Research in the Healthy Life, Healthy Environment topic literally gets under your skin. Here, researchers present 3D-printed joints, artificial skin and innovative surgical instruments – but they also shed light on environmental factors that can affect our health, such as railroad noise and microplastics. The Dwindling Resources theme world is all about valuable raw materials: How can we use them sparingly? What does it take to recycle asphalt, concrete or batteries efficiently? Can we produce renewable plastic?

But even this does not exhaust the diversity of materials science. Fascinating Materials offers a colorful kaleidoscope of unusual and strange materials and technologies. There are robots and magnets, molecules and satellites, liquid air, artificial earthquakes and much more to discover.

And even that's not all: On 14 September, the aquatic research institute Eawag, which shares the Dübendorf campus with Empa, will be showing exciting and unexpected things about water – because water is not only one of the most species-rich habitats; water is also one of our most important resources.

There is yet more to marvel at in the Empa and Eawag demonstrators – large research platforms that turn inventions from the laboratory into practical applications for our everyday lives. The experimental building NEST, the mobility demonstrator move and the Energy Hub show how we will live and work in the future, how we will travel and how we will supply our buildings and infrastructure with electricity and heat.

In addition to the exhibition, the Open Lab Day will also feature various lectures and workshops. Children are welcome at many booths and events. For the little ones, the kihz Chriesbach daycare center offers fun and games on the grounds. Schoolchildren, on the other hand, can find out about the wide range of apprenticeships at Empa and get hands-on with exciting experiments and activities.

Empa not only satisfies a hunger for knowledge: A marquee and three food trucks tempt visitors with fresh delicacies, while the Bistro Flair and the Friends of Empa lounge offer coffee and cake. In the lounge, visitors can also have a chat with Empa researchers during a coffee break – a truly unique opportunity!

More information about the Open Lab Day (in German) at openday.empa.ch.

As a research institute of the ETH Domain, Empa develops innovative materials and technologies for a sustainable future that is worth living. Founded more than 140 years ago in the basement of the Polytechnic in Zurich, today's ETH Zurich, as a materials testing institute, today it is entirely dedicated to materials science and technology development with the aim of developing marketable innovations for and with Swiss industry. In addition to the campus in Dübendorf, Empa also conducts research at its sites in St. Gallen and Thun. Further information and images on Empa's history and research as well as on the new co-operate research campus can be found in our media kit (in German).