Nov 8, 2022 | Virtual reality
Together with EPFL and ETH Zurich colleagues, an Empa team is developing next-generation VR gloves that will make virtual worlds tangible. The glove is to be tailored to each user and capable of being produced largely...
Nov 2, 2022 | Green technology
Farmers once ensured rich harvests of hay by systematically irrigating meadows. In the canton of Zurich, environmentalists are bringing these methods back to life to create a valuable idyll with high biodiversity – using...
Oct 26, 2022 | Portrait Wim Malfait
Belgian-born Wim Malfait is a trained geologist who once searched for gold on behalf of a mining company. Today, he heads the Building Energy Materials and Components laboratory, which develops, among other things,...
Oct 25, 2022 | Integration on a chip
Extreme miniaturization of infrared (IR) detectors is critical for their integration into next-generation consumer electronics, wearables and ultra-small satellites. Thus far, however, IR detectors have relied on bulky...
Oct 20, 2022 | Sustainability
Nearly half of all fruit and vegetables produced globally are wasted each year, according to the United Nations. This has implications for food insecurity, climate change, and for economic security and mobility of the...
Oct 19, 2022 | Climate change
Limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees requires the energy system to be restructured as quickly as possible. But the speed of this transformation is physically limited. An Empa study now calculates the influence of...
Oct 19, 2022 | Rubber production
The substitution of petrochemical materials with those obtained from renewable raw materials is an important step towards increasing sustainability. In just two years of intensive and open collaboration between Empa and...
Oct 17, 2022 | Using digitalization to prevent trees from dying
Planting trees is an effective means of combating heat islands in cities. However, it is particularly difficult for young trees to survive in an urban environment. The OST – Eastern Switzerland University of Applied...
Oct 14, 2022 | OLMA St. Gallen
At this year's OLMA, Federal President Ignazio Cassis visited the joint stand of Empa and Switzerland Innovation Park Ost, where two current research projects are on display.
Oct 12, 2022 | Successful financing round for Empa spin-off Nahtlos
Nahtlos, an Empa spin-off, has received 1 million Swiss francs in a first round of financing from a network of business angels from Switzerland and Liechtenstein and from the Startfeld Foundation. With this funding,...
Oct 10, 2022 | Gaining power
One year after announcing an efficiency record, Empa scientists have achieved a new mark of 22.2% for flexible CIGS solar cell on polymer film. Solar cells of this type are especially suited for applications on...
Oct 5, 2022 | Intelligent assistance system to reduce airplanes' environmental footprint
The approach and landing of passenger jets is often a burden for people and the environment. The DYNCAT project, in which Empa researchers are working with partners in Switzerland, Germany and France, is aiming at...
Oct 5, 2022 | SME prize for Kyburz Switzerland AG – also thanks to Empa know-how
Kyburz Switzerland AG is the winner of the "Prix SVC Wirtschaftsraum Zürich 2022" awarded by the Swiss Venture Club. The company, based in Freienstein in the canton of Zurich, produces electric vehicles and is developing...
Oct 4, 2022 | Empa Young Scientist Fellowship
Lukas Gerken has been awarded an Empa Young Scientist Fellowship for his research project to make radiation therapy for cancer patients more effective and at the same time gentler. The young Empa researcher is being...
Sep 29, 2022 | Empa Innovation Award 2022 for spin-off viboo
This week, the Empa Innovation Award was presented for the eleventh time. The award honors outstanding projects that bridge the gap between lab and practical applications. This year's winner is viboo. The Empa spin-off...
Sep 27, 2022 | High-tech for quieter tracks
To reduce rail noise for residents, noise barriers or quieter wheel systems and brakes are not the only options. An inconspicuous component under the railway tracks is a beacon of hope for quieter rail traffic for a team...
Sep 21, 2022 | 3D printing of the future – following nature's example
An international research team led by drone expert Mirko Kovac of Empa and Imperial College London has taken bees as a model to develop a swarm of cooperative, 3D-printing drones. Under human control, these flying robots...
Sep 19, 2022 | Portrait Hannes Pichler
For the research institutes Empa and Eawag, Hannes Pichler developed the strategy for an innovative and sustainable campus. In planning "co-operate", the head of Empa's real estate management was also able to draw on...
Sep 15, 2022 | Electronics
In the FOXIP project, researchers form Empa, EPFL and the Paul Scherrer Institute attempted to print thin-film transistors with metal oxides onto heat-sensitive materials such as paper or PET. The goal was ultimately not...
Sep 14, 2022 | Dübendorf Research Campus
This is how Augmented Reality (AR) works: The co-operate AR app allows virtual insights into co-operate, the new research campus of Empa and Eawag in Dübendorf. Visitors can already see what the campus will look like one...