News from the Executive Board 2021 / 5

New Center for Sustainable Future Mobility launched

Mobility is one of the big issues of the day – in the face of climate change, what is needed are sustainable, future-proof traffic and transport systems that support the goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions to net zero by 2050 and making use of renewable energy sources.  At the same time, mobility is a key factor in the international competitiveness of the Swiss economy as well as in individuals’ quality of life and ease of movement.

Accordingly, the ETH Executive Board has approved the establishment of the new Center for Sustainable Future Mobility (CSFM) to pool ETH Zurich’s skills in this area and has approved start-up funding for four years until mid-2025. The Center’s goal is to develop the foundations for a sustainable transport system, train the necessary specialists and cultivate the transfer of knowledge into practice.

The Center for Sustainable Future Mobility involves members from eight departments and is based at the Departments of Civil, Environmental and Geomatic Engineering (D-BAUG) and of Mechanical and Process Engineering (D-MAVT). The designated director for the first two years will be Kay Axhausen, Professor of Transport Planning. He will be succeeded by Professor Emilio Frazzoli, Professor of Dynamic Systems and Control.

In terms of teaching, research and knowledge transfer, the CSFM follows on from the activities of external pageSCCER Mobilitycall_made, which was one of eight Swiss Competence Centers for Energy Research (external pageSCCERscall_made) funded by the federal government from 2013 to 2020 in connection with the 2050 climate targets. In terms of continuing education, it will collaborate with the likes of the external pageMAS/CAS in Future Transport Systemscall_made, which was launched as part of the SCCER Mobility.

In particular, the CSFM will be the new home for the mobility initiative launched in 2018 together with industry partners AMAG, SBB and Siemens, which currently comprises ten interdisciplinary research projects. Furthermore, the CSFM will work closely with other ETH Centers in related fields – such as the Energy Science Center (ESC) and the ETH AI Center.

A research furnace for the IBK

The Institute of Structural Engineering (IBK) at D-BAUG deals, among other things, with the fire safety of buildings, in particular the fire safety of wooden structures. Until recently, the infrastructure of Empa’s Fire Technology Lab in Dübendorf could be used for experimental research in the field of fire protection. Now that this lab has been closed, the IBK no longer has access to the infrastructure necessary for fire protection research.

The Executive Board has therefore approved the request of Prof. Andrea Frangi at D-BAUG to purchase a research furnace for the IBK. The furnace is indispensable for the successful continuation of research activities in fire protection engineering at D-BAUG and will also be used in the new MAS in Fire Safety Engineering.