Swisscom and EPFL Partner in the Digital Revolution

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Swisscom and EPFL will cooperate closely within three key areas. Their partnership entails the setup of a call-for-proposals fund financed by the operator, worth a million Swiss francs a year for a seven-year period, for applied research projects focusing on its customers needs . The projects, which could involve software or infrastructure solutions as well as objects for the public, will focus on a multidisciplinary approach and cooperation between various laboratories and research facilities. Swisscom will also establish a permanent presence on campus starting in 2016 through its “Digital Lab”. This 428 m2 site in the EPFL Innovation Park will be providing a unique environment to implement and develop pilot projects by pursuing an “open innovation” strategy. Finally, Swisscom is committed to lending fresh impetus to the campus ecosystem by organising events related to the challenges of digitalisation, supporting the ecosystem of start-ups and, more generally, by stimulating exchanges between the operator’s staff and students and researchers. The projects implemented as part of the partnership will be developed on the Lausanne campus as well as on other EPFL sites in the French-speaking part of Switzerland, especially in Fribourg in relation with the project Smart Living Lab.

The agreement signed on Wednesday, 16 December 2015, allows the two major players to combine their efforts in a field offering enormous potential for innovation, on both a large and small scale. This partnership is set to make Switzerland a model at the European level in terms of access to digital solutions.