New insights into the campus of the future

Ulrich Weidmann, Vice President for Infrastructure, kicked things off by outlining the methodology of the digital twin. The concept involves mapping and integrating the entire campus infrastructure in data and models. Thanks to continuous data collection, the campus itself creates a basis for data-based decision making. Campus development, from improved access to new buildings and renovations, is linked to operations and optimised through shared data. The aim is to increase resource efficiency in every respect. The digital twin concept thus supports the increasingly necessary decoupling of the growth in space, resources and emissions from the growth in students and staff. On the campus of the future, there will be an increasing demand for concepts that allow infrastructure to be shared and used more flexibly.

In his presentation, Stefan Spiegel, Vice President for Finance and Controlling, spoke in favour of sharing. From transport to co-working and shared service centres, sharing concepts can be found in society, the private sector - and at ETH. Think about the eLink shuttle bus, desk sharing, or ETH’s technology platforms which offer services across all academic departments and are showing encouraging growth. Well-known examples include CSCS in the field of high-performance computing or techpool, the one-stop shop for workshop services, and many more.

As the demands on the campus of the future grow and become more diverse, often without a commensurate increase in space, funding and staff, shared approaches are often the only way to achieve these goals. Moreover, sharing concepts also contribute to key performance indicators such as reduced resource consumption and lower CO₂ footprint per ETH member. In addition, certain sharing concepts open up new perspectives in terms of participation and collaboration. Stefan Spiegel therefore rightly concludes with a call to always remain creative, curious and open when it comes to sharing concepts. 

In the third keynote, Wendelin Stark presented the results of his research on how to efficiently, safely and cheaply transfer energy from the high-production summer months (especially from photovoltaics) to the low-production, high-demand winter months. Every modern university campus requires a lot of energy. If resource efficiency and net-zero are to be achieved, the generation and storage of renewable energy is essential.

Professor Stark's research group offers a surprising solution for the decentralised long-term storage of electricity: ‘Power to Iron’. Iron reactors absorb the energy in the form of hydrogen and store it largely without loss over a long period of time. This inexpensive and safe solution is currently being tested and further researched in various stages of living labs. 

Important criteria for the future viability of infrastructure are modularity and flexibility. The campus of the future should enable all forms of collaboration. This was a key takeaway from Raphael Gielgen, Vitra trend scout and cosmopolitan visionary. His presentation took the audience seamlessly from the Bourbaki Panorama in Lucerne to CGI film studios in California, and from the metaverse to the infrastructure requirements of universities.

As the pace of change accelerates, the half-life of our established infrastructure knowledge is becoming shorter and shorter. And with the future becoming the present at an ever faster pace, it is important to be prepared for the new. But people and their rituals should not be forgotten. After all, the campus must continue to serve the needs of the people. 

In addition to the keynotes and presentations, the ‘Campus of the Future’ conference is also a place for dialogue. Accordingly, the programme offered by organisers Dominik Brem and Nina Indina from the Engineering & Systems department also included workshops, networking opportunities and an interactive zone that provided space for active engagement with the topic.