EPFL
Profile
The EPFL Food and Nutrition center federates 500 research labs around the food and nutrition thematic. Diverse horizon expertise in life science, engineering, economic, environmental and food science tackle industrial challenges through pre-competitive research projects. Multi-disciplinary initiatives support entrepreneurship, education and technology transfer activities.
Competences & Capabilities
The Food Center supports initiatives in all fields throughout the supply chain:
- Smart and active packaging
- Sustainability
- Rapid, cheap monitoring devices for QC, authentication, safety or traceability
- Robotics for kitchen of the Future
- Interaction of food with physiology
- Bio and nanosensors to assess food safety and humans
- New ways of marketing, VR, AR
- New agricultural principles and greenhouses design
- Consumer science and diet
- New ways of cooking ready to eat meals and fermented food
Expertise related to the EIT Food Strategic Pillars
The Food Center launches calls for proposals throughout the EPFL in order to attract the most competitive ideas. Professors are asked to team up with industrial scientists in order to develop new and improved solution for the food industry
The Food Center is collaborating with the top hostel management school in Lausanne (EHL) for developing new communication paths and strategies to consumers through its Gusto Lab; where chefs meet scientists, where new technology meets consumers !
The EPFL proposes an Innovation park with 120 start-ups which raised 500Mio venture funds in 2016. Coaching, mentoring and entrepreneurship courses are available. The Mass Challenge accelerator is also supporting creativity of young entrepreneurs. A food incubator with possibilities to incubate more than 50 start-ups is under construction
The EPFL student community is composed of 10’000 students dispatched over 5 faculties: engineering, life science, basic science, environmental science and computing science; and 2 college: management of technology and humanity. The EPFL is leading the development of MOOCs but also collaborates with international institutions to assure high level teaching