Empa is the ETH Domain’s interdisciplinary research institution for materials science and technology. It develops solutions for industry and society in the fields of nanostructured materials, environmental, energy-oriented and sustainable building technologies, biotechnologies and medical technologies. Together with industrial partners or via spin-offs in the Empa technology centres glaTec and tebo, it implements its research results in marketable innovations, thus contributing to the competitiveness of the Swiss economy. It also creates the scientific foundations for sustainable societal development. Empa has been providing public authorities with base data for political decisions and conducting studies on behalf of federal offices since 1880.
At the end of 2010, around 940 staff were working at Empa, including 24 professors, around 140 doctoral students and 40 trainees. In addition, there are around 200 graduands and student apprentices each year. Alongside numerous projects with industrial researchers, over 200 projects financed by SNSF, CTI and the EU Framework Programmes are continually under way. In 2011, the focus is mainly on “clean tech” (among other things, Empa is planning NEST, a modular residential and office building that enables the development and testing of sustainable building technologies), as well as on biotechnology and medical technology, in that cooperation with university hospitals, cantonal hospitals and industry is being intensified, for instance.
