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Studying geological structures on-site poses major logistical challenges. And so, ETH Zurich professor Martin Saar has decided to move the mountain to the lab: in his latest project to receive funding…

If we want to get to grips with global warming, we need methods to remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere—and that on a large scale. At the Max-Planck-Institut für Kohlenforschung, Nobel laureate…

At the end of September, some two hundred guests arrived in Aachen, Germany, to celebrate the new “catalaix” WSS Research Centre. Endowed with a grant of one hundred million Swiss francs from the…

Very few effective Covid drugs are currently on the market. But now there’s hope that this could change in the future: researchers in a team led by Francesco Stellacci at EPFL in Lausanne have…

Fabricating made-to-measure implants with a 3D printer is one of the central components of the MIRACLE II project at the University of Basel. And now, researchers in the team are taking the first…

Our susceptibility to stress can be seen in how our pupils react. This understanding is at the core of a method developed by Marcus Grüschow—neuroscientist and recipient of a MedTech Entrepreneur…

WSS Scientific Advisory Board member Professor Matthias Kleiner has recently been awarded one of the highest honours conferred by the Imperial House of Japan: the Order of the Rising Sun.

We use drugs to kill pathogens and vaccines to help our immune systems ward off infection in the first place. Now, researchers in the team led by Francesco Stellacci at EPFL in Lausanne have developed…

If we don’t want to jeopardise our future, we must act now, says Sandrine Dixson-Declève, co-president of the Club of Rome. And, she adds, while science is critical for achieving a sustainable future,…

The latest edition of the WSS report is dedicated to the centennial anniversary of the Werner Siemens Foundation—and the research competition launched to celebrate the occasion. Endowed with one…

Researchers in the TriggerINK project in Aachen are studying how a supportive scaffold made of hydrogel ink can be used to stimulate damaged cartilage into regrowing. They’ve now developed a key piece…

Forging official documents is a billion-dollar business. Now, researchers at the ETH Zurich Centre for Cyber Trust have developed a system that uses digital technologies to authenticate paper…

Roman Bögli’s interest in IT first began during his apprenticeship in a commercial training programme. After earning his certificate, he changed his career track, earned a university entrance…

Researchers in the MIRACLE II team at the University of Basel are focused on new technologies to enable minimally invasive medical interventions. As part of this work, they’ve now taken the first…

In January, leaders of the research projects financed by the Werner Siemens Foundation met for the first time at a networking event held in Lucerne—a meeting of minds that was a success from start to…

On 19 January 2024, the Werner Siemens Foundation (WSS) honoured the winners of its prestigious “project of the century” ideas competition: Professors Regina Palkovits and Jürgen Klankermayer from…

The Werner Siemens Foundation (WSS) is pleased to announce the winner of its “project of the century” ideas competition: a team led by Regina Palkovits and Jürgen Klankermayer from RWTH Aachen…

At the Werner Siemens Imaging Center in Tübingen, Christoph Trautwein is using state-of-the-art spectroscopy methods to search for tiny molecules in tissue, blood, urine or cerebrospinal fluid. Called…

Surgeries to remedy facial paralysis are highly complex and require a great deal of skill. The artificial muscle developed by a WSS-funded research team at the EPFL campus in Neuchâtel represents a…

Flora Chiper used to be a figure skater. Now she conducts research into cartilage regeneration and is one of Switzerland’s youth delegates to the United Nations. This year, the multi-talented medical…

Valence-switching cells hold great promise for next-generation IT systems. And now, Mathieu Luisier and his team at ETH Zurich have developed a highly flexible model that can simulate the formation…

In the spring of 2023, the MIRACLE II project at the University of Basel—which receives funding from the Werner Siemens Foundation—moved to new facilities. The new location has more space, and it…

Economists often apply cost-benefit analyses to identify the best ways of using limited natural resources in the interest of maximising public welfare. When applied to the climate and biodiversity…

During her MedTech Entrepreneur Fellowship, Jasmine Ho developed a virtual reality treatment method to help patients with chronic pain. Now the neuropsychologist is further expanding her approach in…

As part of its programme to support gifted students, the Swiss Study Foundation invites its scholarship holders to conferences—and encourages them to organise their own events. Rafael Eggli and…

Researchers at Saarland University Medical Center are developing intelligent implants that not only stabilise a fractured bone, but also detect—and counteract—incorrect weight-bearing throughout the…

On 16 June 2023, the Werner Siemens Foundation hosted an awards ceremony to present a WSS research prize of one million Swiss francs to each of the six finalists in the “project of the century”…

Academically gifted girls explore technical professions under the guidance of experienced mentors in the Swiss Tec Ladies programme of the Swiss Academy of Engineering Sciences. The first phase of the…

The latest project to receive funding from the Werner Siemens Foundation is dedicated to studying corrosion in reinforced concrete structures—and thus paving the way for new, climate-friendly…

The WSS-funded palaeobiotechnology project in Jena has achieved a major milestone: in an article published in the renowned academic journal Science, Pierre Stallforth, Christina Warinner and their…

The Werner Siemens Foundation (WSS) has announced the finalists in its “project of the century” ideas competition.

The tiny markers used in medical imaging techniques have the potential to improve early diagnosis of many diseases. And now, researchers at the Werner Siemens Imaging Center in Tübingen have shown…

Pierre Stallforth and his team have isolated an agent from a bacterial strain that is effective against a dangerous fungus found in vegetable crops. Because the newly discovered substance is so…

Readers can now learn more about Charlotte and Marie Siemens, the two sisters who established the Werner Siemens Foundation in 1923. Their life stories are related in a handsome volume with historical…

The stated aim of medical research is to cure disease. And yet, when clinical trials prove unsuccessful, research labs and pharmaceutical companies alike too often fail to adjust their strategies. A…

The ideas competition for a WSS Research Centre dedicated to exploring “technologies for the sustainable use of resources” has generated an enormous echo: 123 researchers from Germany, Austria and…

We’re pleased to announce the publication of the 2022 report of the Werner Siemens Foundation. As in past years, this edition provides details on the projects supported by the Foundation, but it also…

An artificial muscle fitted around the aorta that gives weak hearts a boost—this is the ambitious goal of researchers at the Center for Artificial Muscles in Neuchâtel. To translate their research…

Medicine, research and feminism – just three of Rahel Schmidt’s many interests. Her career goals are to work as a doctor and conduct research on women’s diseases that, while common, are still often…

Every now and then, researchers make entirely unexpected discoveries. At the Center for Single Atom Electronics and Photonics at ETH Zurich, Jürg Leuthold and his team scored one such lucky strike…

Die diesjährigen Nobelpreisträger in Physik und in Medizin haben die Basis gelegt, auf denen die WSS-Projekte CarboQuant und Paläobiotechnologie aufbauen. Inwiefern?

The Werner Siemens Foundation (WSS) is celebrating its centennial anniversary in 2023. To mark the occasion, the Foundation is launching its “project of the century”. Outstanding researchers are…

Five years ago, the MIRACLE team at the University of Basel began their work on revolutionising the future of bone surgery. Now the research team – which is financed by the Werner Siemens Foundation –…

At the summer academies organised by the Swiss Study Foundation, gifted students are invited to discover and critically examine approaches taken in disciplines different to their own – for example, by…

Major achievement for geophysicist Martin O. Saar: the Werner Siemens Foundation Endowed Chair of Geothermal Energy and Geofluids at ETH Zurich has been named lead scientist in a top-tier Innosuisse…

In the fight against global warming, new ideas are needed – for example, novel ways of storing carbon dioxide underground. To this end, Werner Siemens Foundation Endowed Chair Ralf Bachmayer and his…

The researchers in the TriggerINK project at DWI – Leibniz Institute for Interactive Materials in Aachen have an ambitious goal: enabling the regeneration of cartilage on a damaged joint. The core…

The latest report is now available: the 2021 report provides details on projects that are currently receiving funding from the Werner Siemens Foundation.

Which political measures would be effective in protecting our planet’s climate, soils and biodiversity? This is one of the questions explored by the team at FutureLab CERES, a newly established…

The Center for Artificial Muscles (CAM) in Neuchâtel achieved a major milestone: in collaboration with a team of surgeons, the CAM researchers implanted their newly developed artificial muscle in a…

Archaeologist Christina Warinner has recently published not one, but two reports on groundbreaking research findings in PNAS, the renowned journal of the National Academy of Sciences of the United…

Researchers at the Center for Artificial Muscles in Neuchâtel have developed a small, cylindrical device (an actuator) made of silicon that can dilate and contract like a natural muscle—thus imitating…

A surprising discovery: a team of international researchers that included Christina Warinner found traces of exotic South Asian and Chinese spices and foods in the teeth of skeletal remains located in…

A stimulation model developed by Swiss centre of excellence Geo-Energie Suisse and seven cantonal electric utilities recently scored a major success for deep geothermal energy. In a series of complex…

An “antivirotic” drug, smart implants and thermoelectric materials: these are the three latest projects to receive funding from the Werner Siemens Foundation. Read more about these projects and…

The Scientific Advisory Board meets four times per year to review submitted projects and assess their potential. Where necessary, the Board members also travel to an institution to discuss the project…

In 2020, two of the five members of the Scientific Advisory Board of the Werner Siemens Foundation were elected to prestigious positions: Professor Bernd Pichler was named Dean of the Faculty of…

With its engaging articles and handsome photographs, our yearly report provides information on all projects that are currently funded by the Werner Siemens Foundation.

Professors David Basin, Peter Müller and Adrian Perrig from the Department of Computer Science at ETH Zurich and their project partner Matthew Smith from the University of Bonn have officially started…

The goal is to use smart implants for post-operative monitoring of healing processes in complicated fractures—for instance, fractures in the lower leg—and to signal overuse or strain. The implants are…

In the recently opened Bedretto Underground Laboratory for Geoenergies – located in the Alps of southwestern Switzerland – ETH Professor Domenico Giardini and his team will conduct research into deep…

The research vessel “Eugen Seibold” – constructed with financing from the Werner Siemens Foundation – is embarking on its maiden research voyage in May 2019. 

The latest report is now available: the 2018 report provides details on projects that are currently receiving funding from the Werner Siemens Foundation.

A world’s first: since the start of 2018, doctors at University Hospital Basel have been using SpectoVR, the software developed in the scope of the MIRACLE project, to plan surgical interventions in…

On 27 June, the Center for Artificial Muscles in Neuchâtel, Switzerland celebrates its official opening. The centre is the most recent project to be supported by the Werner Siemens Foundation.

Professor Thomas Brück, holder of the Werner Siemens Foundation Endowed Chair, and his team at the Technical University of Munich have achieved a major milestone: their innovative pest-control spray…

Siemens Gas Turbines Technologies LLC in St Petersburg erects a statue in honour of Werner von Siemens’s younger brother Carl von Siemens, who proved his excellent leadership skills at the Russian…

In May of 2018, the greenest research vessel in the world is christened “Eugen Seibold”, after the renowned German marine geologist Eugen Seibold, who died in 2013. As part of the ceremony, a…

On 28 February 2018, the Werner Siemens Foundation launches its latest education project: the mentoring programme “Swiss TecLadies” of the Swiss Academy of Engineering Sciences. The programme, which…

January 2018 sees the start of the second education project in the Canton of Valais supported by the Werner Siemens Foundation. The project fosters vocational training in energy-efficient building…

The first report of the Werner Siemens Foundation is published: in-depth articles introduce the Foundation and present the projects funded through 2017. The report is available for download as a PDF.