Events & Workshops

EPFLinnovators Christmas Dinner and Secret Santa

10 December 2021

We are pleased to invite the EPFLinnovators to a Christmas dinner that will be organized on 10 December 2021 (Friday) in Java Café – Salon in Lausanne. The dinner will be followed by a Secret Santa gift exchange.

“Legal Tips and Tricks for Entrepreneurs and Start-ups” by Anne Dorthe

18 November 2021

We are pleased to invite the EPFLinnovators to the “Legal Tips and Tricks for Entrepreneurs and Start-ups” seminar, which will be led by Anne Dorthe. The seminar will be held on 18 November 2021 from 16.00 to 17.00 (CEST) via Zoom.

Anne is an attorney at Reymond and Associés. Her areas of expertise are trademark law, the drafting and revision of contracts and general terms and conditions, as well as data protection advice, including compliance with the GDPR. Her background also includes extensive experience in business law, copyright and media law. After completing her studies at the Universities of Fribourg (Switzerland) and Berlin, she practiced as a company lawyer in the field of intellectual property management for companies in both Switzerland and Germany. She completed this experience with an LL.M. in Intellectual Property at the University of Turin. Anne also completed a training as a Data Protection Officer (DPO) in 2018 and has since then been a member of the Swiss Association of Data Protection Officers (ASDPO). She was appointed member of its committee and its secretary in 2019. As of the academic year 2020/2021, Anne also teaches the course “Practical Business Law” as part of the Master in Management, Technology and Entrepreneurship at the EPFL.

Tour de Lavaux

2 October 2021

An outdoor excursion was organized in the prestigious terraced vineyards of the Lavaux slopes that has been part of the UNESCO World Heritage Programme since 2007. In addition to experiencing the beautiful Lavaux panorama, the EPFLinnovators were invited for a local a wine tasting session in one of the wine cellars. The tour ended in Cully, where the participants had the opportunity to taste the regional cuisine.

EPFLinnovators Semester closing apéro

6 July 2021

The EPFLinnovators were invited to join the 2021 Spring Semester Closing Apéro that was held on 6 July 2021 from 16.30 to 17.15 via Zoom. Apéro packages including Swiss local goodies were provided to each participant prior the event.

Seminar: “Christophe Moser, an entrepreneur turned Professor”

14 June 2021

We are pleased to invite the EPFLinnovators to the seminar entitled “Christophe Moser, an entrepreneur turned Professor”, which will be led by Professor Christophe Moser from the Microengineering and Industrial Relations at EPFL. The seminar will be held on 14 June 2021 from 17.00 to 18.00 via Zoom.

Professor Moser has a PhD in Electrical Engineering from the California Institute of Technology, a minor in finance and a bachelor degree in Physics from EPFL. He was the co-founder and CEO of Ondax (exit to Coherent) prior to joining EPFL. He raised $15 million from corporate and venture capital sources to fund volume production of thick holographic components in glass and develop devices enabled by these components. He also co-founded Composyt Light Labs (acquired by Intel), Readily3D and EarlySight. Verve Ventures’ portfolio company Insolight was incubated in his lab as well.  For more information about Professor Moser read this article.

EPFL Connect – From Technology to Business

19 April 2021

Thank you to the Vice Presidency for Innovation and the EPFL Entrepreneur Club for involving the EPFLinnovators doctoral fellows in the “EPFL Connect – From Technology to Business” event. This event brought together start-ups and entrepreneurship enthusiasts who came to the table to brainstorm and work on solving the challenges facing their start-ups. The entrepreneurs were matched with around 5 people with relevant knowledge who then brainstormed with the start-up representatives in order to find a solution to their issues. Finally, the participants were invited to network to expand their connections in the EPFL Entrepreneurship ecosystem.

From the EPFLinnovators team Maria Sivers (DuckTest) and Arnout Devos (OK, No Name) presented their start-ups in the ideation panel sessions.

Start-up Scheme Information Session by Dr. Lea Firmin

17 March 2021

Many thanks to our guest speaker Dr. Lea Firmin, the CEO of >>venture>> foundation for sharing her experience and tips on supporting innovation and entrepreneurship in Switzerland.

Dr. Lea Firmin is the CEO of >>venture>>, Switzerland’s leading startup competition, a non-profit that works to empower innovators across Switzerland. Prior to her current role, Dr. Firmin worked at McKinsey & Company where she practiced management consulting with focus on strategy and organizational development in leading pharmaceutical companies around the globe. Dr. Firmin holds a Doctorate in clinical neurophysiology from the University of Bern as well as a dual MSc in brain and mind sciences from Université Pierre et Marie Curie Paris, École normale supérieure Paris and University College London.

>>venture>> is the leading competition for up-and-coming entrepreneurs in Switzerland awarding over CHF500’000 in cash prizes. Founded by Thomas Knecht in 1997, the competition empowers young innovators to develop their business ideas into startup companies. A joint initiative of ETH Zurich, McKinsey & Company, Knecht Holding, Innosuisse and EPFL, >>venture>> has been led by the >>venture>> foundation since 2013.

Success Story Seminar by Dr. Samantha Anderson

26 January 2021

Many thanks to our guest speaker Dr. Samantha Anderson, a co-founder and CEO of DePoly for sharing her entrepreneurship success story with our EPFL Innovators.

Samantha graduated with honor on bachelor level at the University of Winnipeg. Afterwards, she received her Master diploma in chemistry from Queen’s University at Kingston Ontario. Samantha obtained her PhD degree from EPFL, under supervision of Professor Smit from the Institute of Chemical Sciences and Engineering. During her doctoral studies, in collaboration with the other co-founders of DePoly, she developed the chemistry and process behind the depolymerisation technique for PET plastic.  She is passionate about developing sustainable chemistry businesses that help fight global issues we currently face.

Success Story – Testimony of a young entrepreneur

25 May 2020 - Zoom Event

Presentation by Dr. Dimitrios Terzis, co-founder of MeduSoil

Dr Dimitrios Terzis graduated with a PhD in Mechanics from EPFL in 2017. The year after, he co-founded MeduSoil, a construction-tech startup. In 2020, he was included in the prestigious Forbes 30Under30 list of Top Entrepreneurs.

Don’t miss out the opportunity to learn from his experience! 

Ethical and Social Issues in Research and Innovation

10 March 2020

We thank Dr. Gaia Barazzetti, philosopher and senior researcher at UNIL and CHUV, and Alain Kaufmann, sociologist and biologist, Director of The ColLaboratory at UNIL for facilitating this excellent workshop.

The presentation is available here to the EPFLinnovators fellows.

Open Science workshop

11 February 2020

We thank the EPFL Library team for providing this workshop.

The slides are now available (restricted access to EPFLinnovators only) :

Smart publishing

Research Data Management

If you want to go futher on these topics, please take a look at the trainings offered by the EPFL Library. 

New Year event at La Forge

21 January 2020

Thank you to the team @La Forge for welcoming us on the Innovation Park. This event gave EPFLinnovators a glance of the activities carried out at the incubator and was a great opportunity to meet with inspiring entrepreneurs!