July

Founded in 2019, ETH spin-off, Animatico, has developed software for interactive, talking avatars. The animated characters can provide support in various areas of everyday life, such as buying tickets, checking into hotels, or advising on products. The systems work without any contact – certainly needed in Covid-19 times.

Making tumours visible so that surgeons can cut only as much as necessary: this is the goal of an invention by chemical biologists Helma Wennemers and Matthew Aronoff. For their achievement they have received the Spark Award, with which ETH recognises the most innovative invention with the most commercial potential of the past year.

What will our electricity supply look like in the future? In co-operation with partners from industry, researchers at ETH Zurich are developing models to predict the technical and economic impact of all conceivable scenarios.  

Burcak Yesildag from InSphero and Patrick Misun from the Bio Engineering Laboratory of ETH Zürich in Basel talk about a new testing platform that will help diabetes researchers to find new drugs and to get deeper insights into underlying biological mechanisms.