Zeiss and Swiss university begin long-term research collaboration

Zeiss will support innovative research projects at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne (école polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne, abbr. EPFL). The company will make one million euros available for new research projects in key technology fields such as biomedical research, medical diagnostics and visualization as well as optical metrology and inspection.

his is part of a partnership with the renowned EPFL which will take the existing connections between the company and the university to a whole new level. Starting in 2017 ZEISS will also present student awards at the university to honor innovative master's and doctoral theses in the areas of photonics, optoelectronics, computational imaging and data analysis.

Prof. Patrick Aebischer, President of the EPFL, and Dr. Ulrich Simon, Head of Corporate Research and Technology at ZEISS, signed the framework agreement for this long-term collaboration. 

"This contract spans several years and will enable more agile and dynamic collaboration than with the traditional collaborative projects between academia and industry," says Dr. Ulrich Simon. "We have defined key research areas and are giving the university free reign in its research. By working together we will achieve new insights and want to more strongly support innovations."

Prof. Patrick Aebischer adds: „EPFL has state-of-the-art laboratories capable of providing innovative solutions in areas such as biomedical research, medical diagnostics, visualization and optical metrology which are of particular interest to ZEISS.“

Important goals of the collaboration

Thanks to the support from ZEISS, new research projects can be initiated and developed. Both parties want to launch and foster innovative projects together. The focus of the collaboration is on key technologies such as multidimensional imaging and data processing, multidimensional visualization, human-machine interaction and intelligent automation. A joint scientific committee will steer and oversee the projects. 

This committee will also organize and present the ZEISS student awards for outstanding student research in photonics, optoelectronics, computational imaging and data analysis. Each winner will receive 3,000 Swiss francs (approx. 2,800 euros) for a dissertation and 1,500 Swiss francs (approx. 1,400 euros) for a master's thesis. Moreover, the three finalists in each category will also be invited to visit the ZEISS site in Oberkochen for a day.

Within the scope of the partnership, the relationships between researchers, students and employees will be taken to new heights through workshops and other forms of direct contact. This collaboration furthers the goal of the EPFL to closely link teaching and research with international companies such as Nestlé, IBM and Logitech. It also continues the ZEISS tradition of advancing leading innovations through close collaboration, especially with academic institutions.