immo!nvest – Die Plattform für Standorte und Immobilien

Tag: Eidgenössischen Technischen Hochschule Zürich

  • DuraMon raises CHF 1 million in fresh capital

    DuraMon raises CHF 1 million in fresh capital

    Zurich-based DuraMon AG has received CHF 1 million in a seed financing round. The investment was led by the Zurich-based venture capital firm QBIT Capital. In addition to Serpentine Ventures, the ETH Foundation and other investors, the Zug-based building materials group Sika also participated as a strategic investor, according to a media release.

    According to the statement, the funds raised will be used in particular to expand the team, broaden the customer portfolio and optimise and automate the company’s processes.

    DuraMon is developing the world’s first sensor technology and smart analytics solution for precise and reliable monitoring of the corrosion status of reinforced and prestressed concrete. These solutions enable timely detection of deterioration in concrete infrastructures such as bridges, tunnels, car parks and garages.

    DuraMon helps customers “choose the right type of repair for the right structure at the right time”. As a result, reinforced and prestressed concrete infrastructures are repaired neither too early nor too late, according to the promise.

    Through the strategic partnership with global player Sika, “we can serve our customers in the construction industry with a comprehensive technology that enables sustainability through the rational use of construction materials and the proper maintenance of infrastructures and building structures,” Philippe Jost, head of construction and member of the executive board at Sika, is quoted as saying in the media release.

    The spin-off of the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich(ETH) was founded in 2021 and transformed from DuraMon GmbH into DuraMon AG in April this year.

  • MARNA Beteiligungen wants to buy solar company Flisom

    MARNA Beteiligungen wants to buy solar company Flisom

    According to a press release , MARNA Beteiligungen AG from Heidelberg plans to take over the majority of the Flisom Group based in Niederhasli. MARNA Beteiligungen AG wants to cooperate with FL1 Holding GmbH, which belongs to it, and is also planning a capital increase.

    Flisom, a spin-off from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich ( ETH ), has developed particularly flexible and lightweight thin-film solar cells. They are produced on plastic films using so-called roll-to-roll manufacturing techniques and can be attached to roofs or facades, for example. However, they are also suitable for use in mobility applications, such as in aviation. In 2020, Flisom commissioned a 40-megawatt production plant in Hungary to manufacture the modules.

    "Flisom is ideally positioned to benefit from the megatrends behind the increasing demand for electricity (…)," writes MARNA Beteiligungen AG in the press release. She counts population growth, increasing prosperity, digitization and electromobility among these megatrends.

    According to the information, various requirements still have to be met for the planned transaction.

  • Switzerland and Japan open architectural project

    Switzerland and Japan open architectural project

    The Gramazio Kohler research group at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich ( ETH ) and the Obuchi Lab – T_ADS at the University of Tokyo are exhibiting an installation as part of the Collaborative Constructions architectural project. The project in the municipal pottery of the Japanese city of Tokoname goes back to an initiative of the two universities and the Swiss embassy in Japan.

    It is the first project of Vitality.Swiss, the Swiss public diplomacy program on the way to Expo 2025 in Osaka . The exhibition will be held in several cities of Aichi Prefecture as part of the Aichi Triennial Art Festival. According to an embassy announcement, it was officially opened on the occasion of the national holiday on August 1st and can be visited until October 10th.

    Gramazio Kohler Research, led by Matthias Kohler and Fabio Gramazio, presents a three-story timber frame structure that revitalizes the long history of skilled timber construction in Japan through Swiss design and technology. It reinterprets carpentry in the age of robotics, without metal parts, nails, screws or fasteners. Her work has been exhibited at the Center Pompidou, the Venice Biennale and the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, among others.

    The Obuchi Lab – T_ADS around Yusuke Obuchi exhibits a gate-like structure with numerous pottery chains through which pottery is actually steamed, which also cools the air. They were created through human-machine interactions. Obuchi projects explore innovative, inclusive and collaborative construction methods. They are known worldwide for their creative use of technology.

  • Baumer is building in Frauenfeld for 20 million francs

    Baumer is building in Frauenfeld for 20 million francs

    Baumer will add a development center to its Frauenfeld site. The company is investing 20 million francs in its new Innovation Center. It will offer space for around 120 employees on 5,000 square meters. According to a press release , the teams should move in in late summer 2023.

    Baumer is investing in its innovative strength for the second time in just a few years, following the opening of the new high-tech center in Stockach in southern Germany in 2018. The central location between the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich , the University of Excellence in Konstanz and the OST – Ostschweizer Fachhochschule is “optimal”. “The new building enables us to expand the development capacities at the headquarters in order to expand our position as a driver of innovation,” says Dr. Oliver Vietze quoted, CEO of the company from the St.GallenBodenseeArea.

    When it comes to sustainability and energy efficiency, the Innovation Center is set to become a showcase project. A complete solar building envelope is planned for power generation. Geothermal probes and a heat pump are to temper the building. Baumer will obtain further CO2-neutral electricity from Swiss hydropower.

  • ETH Professor Kaijima receives Wolf Prize

    ETH Professor Kaijima receives Wolf Prize

    Professor of Architectural Behaviorology at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich ( ETH ), Momoyo Kaijima, and her partner Yoshiharu Tsukamoto have been awarded this year’s Wolf Prize for Architecture. Tsukamoto is a professor at the Tokyo Institute of Technology. Both run the Atelier Bow-​Wow together. According to the ETH media release , the jury chose the works of both professors as prizewinners because of their great sensitivity to local contexts and the social effects of architecture.

    The Wolf Prize has been awarded to scientists and artists by the Israel-based Wolf Foundation since 1978. Merits for the benefit of mankind and friendly relations between peoples are honored. According to the ETH announcement, former award winners in the architecture category include Frank O. Gehry, Jean Nouvel, Peter Eisenman and David Chipperfield. Momoyo Kaijima is only the third woman to receive the Wolf Prize for Architecture.

    After various guest professorships. at Harvard University, the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts and Columbia University, among others, Momoyo Kaijima came to ETH Zurich in 2017, where she established the Chair of Architectural Behaviorology.

  • Swiss Prime Site and Superlab are building laboratory space in Schlieren

    Swiss Prime Site and Superlab are building laboratory space in Schlieren

    Swiss Prime Site Immobilien has entered into a partnership with Superlab Suisse . Superlab is a provider of laboratory and research space. According to the press release , Superlab Suisse provides operational and fully equipped research and laboratory space as well as operational services. It already has such a location in Lausanne. Both partners plan to develop locations in Basel and Schlieren with a total area of more than 10,000 square meters. According to Superlab Suisse, the laboratory in Schlieren will have an area of 5,400 square meters.

    The city on the Limmat is home to facilities of the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich (ETH), the University of Zurich (UZH) and research centers of numerous national and international pharmaceutical companies. The demand for laboratory space is correspondingly high, it is said. Swiss Prime Site Immobilien is planning a modern new building project on the JED site in Schlieren. In cooperation with Superlab Suisse, research and laboratory areas for start-ups, spin-offs or established companies are to be created on two floors.

    “Due to the direct proximity to the Wagi area in Schlieren and the technology park in Basel, companies from the life sciences sector can benefit from significant synergy effects of these ecosystems,” says Zhang Xi, CEO of Superlab. In Basel, a state-of-the-art building with laboratory and research areas is to be built by Superlab Suisse at the Stücki Park in the next 18 months.

    For Martin Kaleja, CEO of Swiss Prime Site Immobilien, the modern standard of construction, the flexibility of the space and the guarantee of support and services are key success factors. Kaleja is quoted as saying that Swiss Prime Site Immobilien and Superlab Suisse together had the necessary know-how to ensure the space required for laboratory and research areas.

  • ETH robots build hanging gardens for Zug

    ETH robots build hanging gardens for Zug

    The Tech Cluster Zug will have hanging gardens based on ancient models. The planted architectural sculpture intended for this purpose bears the name Semiramis. It is 22.5 meters high and consists of five differently sized and geometrically complex wooden bowls that are placed one on top of the other. A video presented in a media release from ETH shows how these are supported by eight slender steel supports.

    Researchers from the group of ETH architecture professors Fabio Gramazio and Matthias Kohler design and create Semiramis together with Müller Illien landscape architects , the timber construction engineers from Timbatec and other partners from industry and research. The design options come from a machine learning algorithm that was developed in collaboration with the Swiss Data Science Center .

    “The computer model enables us to reverse the conventional design process and to explore the entire scope for designing a project,” Matthias Kohler, Professor of Architecture and Fabrication at ETH Zurich, is quoted as saying. In the Immersive Design Lab , an ETH laboratory for augmented reality, the researchers were able to explore the designs in three dimensions. A software developed jointly with the Computational Robotics Lab at ETH allowed the designs to be modified. According to Kohler, this lighthouse project in architectural research is driving “key research topics such as interactive architectural design and digital fabrication”.

    The Semiramis sculpture is currently being built by four cooperating robotic arms in the robotic production laboratory at ETH Zurich. An algorithm prevents collisions if you each lift one of the wooden panels and place them in the room at the same time. The robots relieve humans of the heavy lifting and precise positioning. They also make complex scaffolding unnecessary.

    The individual shell segments each consist of 51 to 88 wooden panels. When one of them is ready, it is transported to Zug by truck. Semiramis is to be erected and planted in spring 2022.

  • Milestone for sustainable building is being created in Zug

    Milestone for sustainable building is being created in Zug

    The construction project for V-ZUG ‘s new production and assembly building called Zephyr Ost in the Zug Tech Cluster is the largest to date in which CO2-enriched concrete has been used. It is made from recycled concrete from the building materials group Holcim , which is enriched with CO2 using a neustark process. According to a press release , the construction work started on Wednesday. The building is scheduled to go into service in 2023.

    For this climate-friendly concrete, CO2 from Switzerland is being used for the first time. The start-up based in Bern and spun off from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich ( ETH ) in 2019, neustark extracts the CO2 from the wastewater treatment plant of the ara region Bern AG .

    The recycled granulate for concrete production is processed by the recycling processing plant Arge EvoREC in Oberdorf NW. This is a joint venture between Holcim Kies und Beton AG and Zimmermann Umweltlogistik AG . The granulate is then carbonated by neustark using the dry process. The technology has been tested in the past few months and is now being used commercially.

    With the use of 4,200 cubic meters of recycled concrete and the binding of CO2, a total saving of 71 tons of CO2 is achieved compared to conventional construction. That corresponds roughly to the annual CO2 uptake of 3500 Swiss firs.

    “We are pleased to be able to come one step closer to our vision of climate-neutral and circular concrete production with the help of the innovative neustark process,” said Giovanni Barbarani, Head of Concrete Performance at Holcim Switzerland. “This project is a milestone on the way to sustainable building in Switzerland, also thanks to its regionality and short transport routes.”

    The Metall Zug Group wants to create “a new piece of the city for an industrial ecosystem” in the Zug Tech Cluster. Other industrial companies, start-ups, technology-related service providers, training institutions and apartments are also to be located there.

  • Empa achieves record for flexible solar cells

    Empa achieves record for flexible solar cells

    The Empa team from the Laboratory for Thin Films and Photovoltaics , headed by Ayodhya N. Tiwari, has set its seventh record for the efficiency of flexible CIGS (Copper Indium Gallium Diselenide) solar cells. After a record high efficiency of 12.8 percent in 1999, it has now reached 21.38 percent, according to a press release. This new record was confirmed by the independent Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems in Freiburg, Germany.

    The value now measured is already close to the best efficiency of conventional, non-flexible solar cells made of crystalline silicon of 26.7 percent. The highly efficient flexible solar cells are particularly suitable for use on roofs and building facades, for greenhouses, transport vehicles, aircraft and portable electronics. Together with the Niederhasli ZH-based company Flisom , a spin-off from Empa and the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich ( ETH ), the researchers are developing roll-to-roll production of lightweight, flexible solar modules for such applications.

    These solar cells are produced on a polymer film using a low-temperature evaporation method. The light-absorbing semiconductor material lies on top as a wafer-thin film. Empa researcher Shiro Nishiwaki optimized their composition. In this way he was able to further increase the efficiency. According to the team’s measurements, the increase in photovoltaic output remained stable even after several months.

    Tiwari’s team works closely with the Kovalenko Lab for Functional Inorganic Materials at ETH Zurich. The research and development work was supported by the Federal Office of Energy .

  • Managing Director Audergon leaves arv Baustoffrecycling

    Managing Director Audergon leaves arv Baustoffrecycling

    After five years at the helm of the arv building materials recycling association, Laurent Audergon is leaving. He wants to face a new professional challenge, it says in a letter from association president Adrian Amstutz and the two vice presidents Stefan Eberhard and Laurent Steidle to all members and partners of the association arv Baustoffrecycling Schweiz.

    The board of directors agreed on an immediate end of work with Audergon. However, the departing managing director is available to arv for an orderly handover, according to the letter. The association is therefore looking for a new managing director.

    In the meantime, the deputy managing director Gregor Schguanin will take over the management of the association with the support of the board. He has extensive and longstanding expertise in the areas of inspectorate and environmental protection as well as in-depth experience in project and team management. Schguanin studied cultural engineering and surveying at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich (ETH) and is a graduate engineer and certified consultant for organizational development.

    Audergon is a graduate chemist and civil engineer at the ETH. In his five years as managing director he had a decisive influence on the repositioning and continuous development of arv, the presidents state in their letter. He led the association with great commitment.

    The association arv Baustoffrecycling Schweiz is based in Schlieren.

  • University of Zurich relies on Winterthur water flow

    University of Zurich relies on Winterthur water flow

    Stadtwerk Winterthur has won the University of Zurich ( UZH ) as a new customer. In the corresponding tender, the UZH assumed electricity from renewable energies and opted for water electricity from the European Union, explains the city administration of Winterthur in a message . The municipal company will supply UZH with 69 gigawatt hours of electricity from hydropower annually from 2024 to 2028.

    In addition, Stadtwerk Winterthur was able to win two more tenders from existing customers, the communication further explains. According to this, on the one hand, the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich ( ETH ) will also receive sustainable water power from the Winterthur municipal utility in the years 2024 to 2028. Of the 110 gigawatt hours contractually agreed annually, 4 gigawatt hours should meet the strict ecological guidelines of naturemade star.

    On the other hand, the Cantonal Hospital Winterthur will continue to receive electricity from hydropower from Stadtwerk Winterthur between 2024 and 2026. The corresponding contractual agreement includes the delivery of around 24 gigawatt hours of electricity annually, writes the city administration of Winterthur.

  • Researchers want to print tower

    Researchers want to print tower

    The Graubünden village of Mulegns on the Julier Pass is to receive a new cultural site: Giovanni Netzer, theater director and founder of the Origen cultural festival, wants to have a new white tower built. This should be 23 meters high and comprise four floors. At the very top, a stage for performances is to be built under a dome. The appearance of the tower should be reminiscent of the Graubünden confectioner tradition.

    Netzer wants to rely on digital construction technologies for the construction of the tower. To do this, he works with researchers from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich ( ETH ). The tower is designed and planned by ETH professor Benjamin Dillenburger and Michael Hansmeyer from the Digital Building Technologies research group together with the Origen Foundation by Netzer. In addition, with Robert Flatt, Walter Kaufmann and Andreas Wieser, three other ETH professors from the national research focus on digital fabrication are involved.

    The components of the tower are to be produced on site with a 3D printer. Interested parties can watch this process. Robots should then build the tower from these parts. According to an announcement from ETH, the tower will be one of the tallest structures ever to be 3D printed and built by robots. The construction using 3D printing enables complex geometries to be produced and raw materials to be used sparingly.

    When the project was presented on Tuesday, Federal President Guy Parmelin was also present. Construction is scheduled to start in April 2022. In addition, the dismantling is already planned. In this way, the concrete elements can be separated from each other again at a later point in time. Theoretically, the tower could then be rebuilt in another location.

  • FenX convinces with sustainable insulation material

    FenX convinces with sustainable insulation material

    FenX AG has secured 2.7 million francs in a seed financing round, according to a press release . Investors include the real estate company Swiss Prime Site, Zürcher Kantonalbank and CADFEM International, which specializes in simulation-based planning.

    FenX AG has developed a patented technology with which industrial waste can be converted into insulation boards using a cost-effective foam process at room temperature. According to the communication, the insulation boards produced in this way have good insulation properties and high mechanical strength. They are not flammable and cause almost no CO2 emissions.

    On the one hand, FenX intends to use the fresh funds to continue investing in research and development. On the other hand, the company wants to set up its first production facility and prepare for market entry. FenX's long-term goal is to produce recyclable building materials around the world. Production is to take place decentrally from locally available resources.

    FenX was spun off from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich ( ETH) in 2019. Behind the company are researchers from the ETH Laboratory for Complex Materials.

  • Genome researchers at the Irchel campus get a new laboratory

    Genome researchers at the Irchel campus get a new laboratory

    The Functional Genomics Center Zurich (FGCZ) of the University of Zurich (UZH) and the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich (ETH) is getting a new building on the Irchel campus. The groundbreaking is in May. As general contractor, Implenia AG Switzerland and SAM Architects AG Zurich are responsible for the planning and implementation. With their project, they won a selection procedure from the cantonal building construction office in Zurich in March, according to a media release .

    Accordingly, a new laboratory building of 1300 square meters is planned. This offers space for 20 different room types. This should accommodate high-tech devices that have different requirements in terms of room climate, temperature, power consumption and availability.

    In addition to the laboratories, a new type of office concept is also being created, which offers different opportunities for community and privacy. This new working environment is intended to make work easier for genome researchers and external users, according to the press release. If everything goes according to plan, the 80 employees at the Functional Genomics Center Zurich could move in summer 2022.

    The old building of the genome researchers on the Irchel campus is meanwhile being cleared for temporary use. From 2023, three secondary schools in the canton of Zurich are to move in there. After about ten years, the buildings are to be renovated and handed over again for university purposes.

    Accordingly, the new laboratory building is a temporary solution. It consists of modules that can easily be dismantled and recycled. Because: After 15 years, the scientists should move back into their traditional building.

  • Sevensense co-founder praises Switzerland as a location for robotics

    Sevensense co-founder praises Switzerland as a location for robotics

    Roland Siegwart is Professor of Autonomous Systems at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich ( ETH ). He is also co-director of the Wyss Zurich funding program. In 2018 Siegwart co-founded the ETH spin-off Sevensense Robotics. The company, based in Zurich, develops technologies for robots that help them, for example, with independent orientation. Sevensense also works with Deutsche Bahn to develop technologies for the future of train travel.

    In an interview published on the Sevensense blog page, Siegwart praised Switzerland as a location for robotics. All important specialist knowledge for robotics is available in the country. On the one hand, precision mechanics, which have a "long tradition in Switzerland", are particularly important. On the other hand, sensor technology plays an important role in the industry. This is less known worldwide, but Switzerland is already very advanced in this regard.

    Siegwart also praises the ETH Zurich and the ETH Lausanne (EPFL). The two universities would provide the necessary control and intelligence to be able to make good use of the existing specialist knowledge, he emphasizes. They would also spawn a multitude of successful spin-offs – especially in the robotics area. Switzerland has also been able to attract a large pool of foreign talent who further strengthen the robotics scene.

    Switzerland still has some catching up to do when it comes to major investments. Investors in Europe are generally more risk averse compared to those in the USA. However, this also helps European start-ups develop a sustainable, customer-oriented approach. Accordingly, the survival rate of start-ups – for example in Switzerland – is much higher than that of those in the USA. The long-term survival rate of the ETH spin-offs is 80 to 90 percent.

  • Zurich and Singapore are exploring big cities

    Zurich and Singapore are exploring big cities

    The Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich ( ETH ) and three Singapore-based universities – the National University of Singapore , the Nanyang Technological University and the Singapore University of Technology and Design – want to jointly research how the global growth of cities can be made more sustainable. To this end, according to a press release on December 1, they launched the Future Cities Lab Global research program. It is an extension of the Future Cities Laboratory of the Singapore-ETH Center , which was successfully completed after ten years.

    This program deals with the major global challenges of increasing urbanization caused by the expansion of existing cities and the emergence of new ones. This against the background that, according to the United Nations, two thirds of the world's population will live in cities by 2050.

    “The ecological and economic advantages of densely populated cities that do not take up much space are being wiped out by the urban sprawl in the hinterland,” explains Professor Stephen Cairns, co-director of the research program and ETH architecture professor in Singapore. "The extent to which we can curb climate change in the next hundred years depends on how well these contrasting city forms are planned."

    Numerous projects are being planned, according to ETH Zurich. Those that have already started dealt with compacted green buildings and quarters, the materials for them and new technologies for the recycling of building materials. In addition, solutions for polluted and flood-prone cities and surrounding regions are sought. Possibilities for sustainable food production in cities and their surrounding areas are also being explored.

  • Empa presents three innovation awards

    Empa presents three innovation awards

    The Eidgenössische Materialprüfungs- und Forschungsanstalt ( Empa ) has honored three of its groundbreaking projects and achievements with the Empa Innovation Award. The prize, endowed with CHF 5,000, has been awarded every two years since 2006. In doing so, Empa honors the efforts of its researchers to build further bridges between science and business with applied, market-oriented research.

    According to a press release by Empa, the first prize goes to the novel tissue adhesive technology Nanoglue. It was developed by researchers at the Particles-Biology Interactions Laboratory at Empa in St.Gallen in collaboration with the Nanoparticle Systems Engineering Lab at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich . Their radically new approach uses the wound-healing properties of inorganic nanoparticles. The inexpensive materials could be manufactured on a large scale. The “unique technology” is now being brought to market maturity by the Zurich start-up anavo medical , which has yet to be founded.

    The transparent face mask from the Hello Mask project by Empa and the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne ( EPFL ) also received an award. It consists of a fine membrane with a pore size of around 100 nanometers. This membrane allows air to pass through, but holds back viruses and bacteria. “The fully see-through mask was developed primarily with the aim of improving the relationship between caregivers and patients,” says researcher Joshua Avossa. The Geneva start-up HMCare has been working on the market launch of the Hello Mask from Empa and EPFL since 2020. It should be available in mid-2021.

    The software platform Urban Sympheny for planning sustainable energy systems is the third winner. The Empa spin-off of the same name, based in Dübendorf, helps planners to identify optimal solutions for their location and their customers. The goal is energy and cost efficiency. The innovative platform was developed in Empa’s Urban Energy Systems department. Last year Venture Kick awarded Urban Sympheny 50,000 francs.