Swiss Academy of Engineering Sciences (SATW)
Member Academies
St. Annagasse 18 / CH-8001 Zürich, Schweiz
T. +41 44 226 50 11 | F. +41 44 226 50 19
Identity
Christofer HIEROLD
Co Chair
Peter SEITZ
Co Chair
Founding date: 1981
Number of members: 312 individual members, 12 honorary members, 51 member societies
Number foreign members: 29
Management and Staff: 19
Annual Budget: CHF 3.8m
Financing and sources:
Government support: 85%
Industry: 5%
Private funding: 5%
Other: 5%
Mission
– Provide a network of excellence in engineering sciences.
– Support innovation and facilitate transfer of technology
– Promote the understanding of technology and engineering sciences in society.
– Advise Government and society (“honest knowledge broker”)
– Inform the next generation about engineering sciences and motivate them to pursue a career in engineering.
– Build and maintain international relations with excellent peer groups in the field of engineering sciences.
Committees / Main working groups
Additive Manufacturing, Adriaan Spierings – Spierings@inspire.ethz.ch
Autonomous Driving, Wolfgang Kröger – wolfgang.kroeger@satw.ch
Biotechnology/Bioinformatics, Hans-Peter Meyer – hanspeter.meyer@satw.ch
Chemistry, Urs Mäder – ursjmaeder@bluewin.ch
Cyber Security, Bernhard Tellenbach – tebe@zhaw.ch
Industrie 4.0, Patricia Deflorin – patricia.deflorin@htwchur.ch
Artificial Intelligence, Alessandro Curioni – cur@zurich.ibm.com
Food Technology, Erich Windhab – erich.windhab@hest.ethz.ch
Medical Technology, Gabor Székely – szekely@vision.ee.ethz.ch
Resilience, Giovanni Sansavini – sansavig@ethz.ch
Sustainable circular economy, Xaver Edelmann – xaver.edelmann@satw.ch
Highlights 2020/2019
2020
– In 2020, Swiss TecLadies, SATW’s initiative to foster young female engineering talent, was carried out for the second time in German-speaking and for the first time in French-speaking Switzerland. After qualifying by completing an online test, over 90 girls aged between 13 and 16 are undergoing a versatile programme together with a female mentor.
– SATW’s Cybersecurity Map gives a concise insight into current technological developments relevant from a cybersecurity perspective. Factsheets for each development show the recommendations of the SATW Cybersecurity Advisory Board to politics and the economy with which Switzerland can increase its “cyber-resilience”.
– Highly automated vehicles are one of the great engineering visions. However, it is still unclear what safety is to be achieved and how this can be determined. In a larger project, SATW is addressing questions regarding highly automated vehicles and has published in 2020 a fact sheet on this and held various events.
– SATW published the third edition of its biannual “Technology Outlook”, an overview of the most promising upcoming technologies for Switzerland, written by various leading experts. For the first time, the publication was also published as an extensive online-version and accompanied by a roadshow with multiple presentations for SME business owners and innovation professionals.
– Under the auspices of the SATW topical platform on artificial intelligence, leading experts in the field published the whitepaper “Recommendations for an AI Strategy in Switzerland”. The experts describe areas with great potential for Switzerland, amongst others the creation of national data platforms. Without such efforts, Switzerland risks being left behind in this forward-looking technology.
– In 2019 SATW successfully completed the first implementation of the public-private partnership programme “Swiss TecLadies”, an initiative to foster young female talent in the field of technology. After qualifying by completing an online test, 45 girls aged between 13-16 began a versatile nine-month development programme with the support of a female mentor.