ESL at Innovation Day

From the era of pocket calculators to today’s Internet-of-Things, embedded systems have developed at an astonishing rate – and the possiblities for innovation have multiplied.

In the context of a competitive industry it is not always possible to take risks by carrying out innovative research. Within academia, however, researchers can strike out into the unknown.

The Embedded Systems Laboratory consists of a huge, multidisciplinary team: 45 researchers from 17 countries, with a wide variety of backgrounds and disciplines. This polyvalent team is supported with funds from 27 different companies and R&D centres, making it possible to explore hitherto uncharted territory.

A multitude of groundbreaking applications are developed as standard sized demonstrators, before being miniaturised and tested for robustness, often in collaboration with industrial partners.

But there are also new paradigms to explore, such as the advanced architecture of high powered processing models: reducing power consumption below normal limits, thanks to futuristic methods of coolling.

EPFL Innovation Day was a fantastic celebration of industrial innovation, and ESL rightly took its place in the front rank.