The Switzerland Innovation Park Ost will be present at the OLMA in Hall 3.1 from October 13th to 23rd, 2022. Federal President Ignazio Cassis visited the team and learned about a current project in which Empa researchers are using sensors and computer simulations to reduce food waste: the digital fruit twin.
In April 2021, the Federal Council approved the application to include the Switzerland Innovation Park Ost (SIP Ost) as the sixth location operator of Switzerland Innovation. At the beginning of 2022, the Innovationspark Ost started its operational business and since then has launched various projects and cooperations. Federal President Ignazio Cassis got an idea of this on today’s opening day of the OLMA. “We were very pleased about the visit and the interest from the Federal Republic of Bern,” says Hans Ebinger, Managing Director of SIP Ost. The conversation was a welcome opportunity to introduce the FDFA head to a current research project.
The digital fruit twin
From a vast amount of data, Empa researchers are developing simplified virtual models of complex systems u2013 a digital twin. This enables them to find sustainable solutions for a wide variety of applications, such as minimizing the amount of spoiled food during transport and storage or determining the optimal storage temperature for fruit and vegetables. The SIP Ost will pass on this knowledge at the OLMA stand: “We want companies to develop innovations themselves with the digital fruit twin,” says Ebinger. Because the research results and the underlying methods of data processing can be used to solve various similar tasks, be it in the pharmaceutical industry, in agriculture or in medical technology.
Know-how from an interdisciplinary community
Knowledge transfer and networking with partners from research and industry are among the core competencies of the Innovation Park East. Through the merger with the Eastern Swiss start-up platform Startfeld in June of this year, SIP Ost was able to rapidly expand its network. In the future, SIP Ost wants to connect even more innovation-loving companies from the near and far region and support them in the development of innovations. At the OLMA, SIP Ost will be present in Hall 3.1 together with the Empa research institute and the Smartfeld education lab, which is aimed at children and young people, and will be providing information at the stand, among other things, about various innovation funding offers.
About Swiss Innovation
Switzerland Innovation is a network of six innovation parks throughout Switzerland, based on a joint initiative by public institutions, science and the private sector and a statutory mandate from the Federal Council. Switzerland Innovation forms an ecosystem that enables universities and innovative companies to work together and use their knowledge and research results to develop new marketable products and services.
