Swissmem industry partner in three major collaborative projects
Swissmem is an industry partner in three major collaborative projects aimed at improving the technology transfer process.
Until the end of 2007, the Innovation Promotion Agency (CTI) of the Federal Office for Professional Education and Technology is supporting a number of consortia made up of researchers from higher education establishments (federal institutes of technology, universities and technical colleges) and representatives from the private sector. Swissmem is actively involved in three consortia/projects:
Win-Win for Science and Economy through effective knowledge and technology transfer
Geographically, the consortium stretches across central Switzerland and covers the entire spectrum of technologies, logistics, economy, management, etc. At the heart of the consortium are the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich, the universities of Bern and Zurich (along with Unitectra AG for the transfer of technology) and the Universities of Applied Sciences in Bern and Zurich. Swissmem is a business partner in the engineering field. The involvement of Inspire AG, a centre for the transfer of new methods and procedures affiliated to the Department Of Mechanical And Process Engineering at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich, is worthy of particular mention.
Specialists with valuable experience and a broad range of knowledge in the field of mechanical and electrical engineering establish contact with companies and make themselves available for discussions. They then set up contacts giving access to the relevant specialists via the technology transfer centres within the universities for the purposes of discussion, advice and project work.
The contact agency for interested parties from the mechanical and electrical engineering (MEM) industries is Swissmem (tel. +41 (0)44 384 41; j.keller@swissmem.ch, u.ramseier@swissmem.ch or p.stoessel@swissmem.ch).
The Lausanne Federal Institute of Technology is the lead partner in this consortium, but the entire higher education community in French-speaking Switzerland is actively involved in the project. Swissmem is the main industry partner.
The project is essentially based around micro-, nano- and information and communication technologies, medtech (including natural science) and materials science, but other topics and issues are, naturally, also dealt with.
Technology advisors from the Lausanne Federal Institute of Technology contact companies, provide them with advice and direct them to suitable discussion partners within universities, so that a joint solution can be found to imminent questions and problems.
The contact person at the Lausanne Federal Institute of Technology is Roland Luthier (tel. +41 (0)21 693 35 80; roland.luthier@alliance-tt.ch.
This project, based in Eastern Switzerland, is headed up by the Institute of Technology Management at the University of St Gallen. Partners include the University of Applied Sciences of Eastern Switzerland, the EMPA materials science and technology research institute, the Zurich University of Applied Sciences Winterthur and Swissmem.
The project focuses on nano- and microtechnologies, ubiquitous computing, technology management, machine and plant construction and high-tech textiles.
The contact person is Frank Herrmann at the University of St. Gallen (tel. +41 (0)71 224 72 00; frank.herrmann@unisg.ch).