Projects

Measurement probe on the surface of concrete
Zürich

Climate-friendly corrosion protection in reinforced concrete

Worldwide, the manufacture of concrete is responsible for emitting three times more carbon dioxide than air traffic. One of the main reasons for this dubious distinction are the high alkalinity levels in concrete—which are currently believed to be the only way to prevent reinforcing steel from corroding.
A basic component of an artificial muscle
Neuchâtel

Artificial muscles

Artificial muscles have the potential to improve the heart’s pumping capacity in patients with cardiac insufficiency. The team at the Center for Artificial Muscles in Neuchâtel, which is financed by the Werner Siemens Foundation, are making excellent progress in their innovative project, especially with regard to pumping capacity and energy supply.
Two researchers in the lab
Tübingen

Werner Siemens Imaging Center

The Werner Siemens Imaging Center in Tübingen is playing in the premier league of global research on medical imaging techniques. The Center's research focus on personalised tumour therapies is now part of Germany's national Excellence Strategy. A novel approach to combining medical imaging techniques can help doctors discover which therapy will be most effective in treating individual patients.
Prehistoric dental plaque
Jena

Prehistoric medicine

Antibiotic resistance is increasingly becoming a problem. Now, a research team in Jena is seeking new medicines in a surprising place: in the dental plaque of early humans. It is hoped that the ancient substances can “surprise” and overcome resistant bacteria of today.
In the Bedretto Underground Lab.
Zurich

Bedretto Underground Lab

If we could tap into the massive heat of the earth’s interior to generate electricity, we would have a sustainable source of energy. In Switzerland, however, drilling deep into the earth has always triggered earthquakes. Now, international research teams can safely conduct deep geothermal energy experiments using the innovative infrastructure in the new Bedretto Underground Lab in southern Switzerland.
Map FutureLab CERES
Potsdam

CERES

If we want to avoid losing the basis of our existence on earth, we must act. But what political measures will be effective in protecting our climate, biodiversity and soils? And what stops policymakers from enacting them?
Before the cyclodextrin destroys them, a raspberry-coloured culture medium is given to the lab-grown viruses.
Lausanne

A centre for viral research

Whether Covid-19, dengue fever or Ebola: a virus is often the root cause of devastating diseases. But medical science has not yet succeeded in developing a drug that can be used to treat a wide range of viral infections the way that antibiotics fight bacterial infections. This may soon change.
Photo of the single-atom switch.
Zurich/Karlsruhe

Single-atom switch

Faster, smaller and—above all—greater energy efficiency: a team of researchers are working on creating the next-generation microchip. For the past four years, the Werner Siemens Foundation has been supporting the development of the so-called single-atom switch, which requires only a miniscule amount of energy.
CarboQuant—carbon nanomaterials for quantum technologies in everyday life
Dübendorf

CarboQuant

Welcome to the nanoworld—and to the realm of quantum physics, where standard rules of reality no longer apply.
Key board in a hotel.
Zurich

Centre for Cyber Trust

The internet has revolutionised how we access information of all kind. But of late, data theft, false information and malware have eroded our trust in the World Wide Web. Now, IT professors at ETH Zurich are working to make the internet secure again.
Supporting girls with a flair for technology.
Zurich

Swiss TecLadies

How can girls interested in mathematics, physics or computer science be encouraged to choose a career in a related field? By introducing them to experienced computer scientists, physicists or mathematicians who show it is very possible to succeed in a male-dominated profession. Providing role models for girls is the goal of the mentoring programme Swiss TecLadies.
Aachen

TriggerINK

The researchers in the TriggerINK project at DWI – Leibniz Institute for Interactive Materials in Aachen have an ambitious goal: regrowing cartilage on a damaged joint using a scaffold made of bioink.
All inclusive: MIRACLE II
Basel

MIRACLE II

With their innovative robot-guided laser, the MIRACLE II team at the University of Basel and the University Hospital Basel are aiming to make minimally invasive surgery on bones and cartilage a reality.
Newly developed X-ray device.
Zurich

Deep geothermal energy

The Werner Siemens Foundation is financing the geothermal research of Professor Martin O. Saar and his team at ETH Zurich. Their aim is to develop an innovative procedure to tap into the energy in the earth's crust and simultaneously  sequester greenhouse gas CO2 underground.
Klosterneuburg

Thermoelectric materials

The Institute of Science and Technology Austria is currently Austria’s most successful research institution, and it attracts brilliant minds from all corners of the globe—including physicist Maria Ibáñez, who is seeking high efficiency thermoelectric materials.
Molecular biologist Dr Ana Montalban-Arques in the lab
Zurich

MedTech­Entrepreneur Fellowships

The path from academia to entrepreneurship is long and arduous—not least in the field of medical technology. To help pave the way for first-time entrepreneurs, the Werner Siemens Foundation is financing the University of Zurich’s MedTechEntrepreneur Fellowship programme and state-of-the-art Life Science Incubator Lab. In the programme, innovative young researchers receive the support they need to found a company.
Munich

Synthetic Biotechnology

How can natural organisms be manipulated to produce substances that are useful to human beings? This is the focus of the team at Synthetic Biotechnology at the Technical University of Munich. Werner Siemens Foundation Endowed Chair Thomas Brück and his team have developed several innovative novel products, including CO2-neutral carbon, a bio-degradable pest spray and a palm oil substitute made of oleaginous yeast.
The smart implant.
Homburg

Smart implants

Until now, patients suffering from complicated bone fractures have had no option other than to wait and see whether a fracture heals well after an operation.  Now, however, scientists are developing smart implants that can correct course should the healing process veer off track.
Sailing research lab Eugene Seibold
Mainz

Sailing research vessel

The world’s oceans play a decisive role in our climate system by absorbing heat and CO2—although there are limits to this capacity. How healthy are the seas today, in times of global warming? The Werner Siemens Foundation financed the construction of the world's greenest research vessel and is now assuming operating costs for the research voyages that began in 2019.
A deep-sea community at a hydrothermal vent on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, at an ocean depth of 3030 metres.
Bremen

Safeguarding the deep sea

Over the course of millions of years, the deep sea has evolved into a vitally important ecosystem that harbours vast reserves of natural resources. Mining these treasures would cause great environmental damage. To prevent this from happening, the Innovation Center for Deep-Sea Environmental Monitoring has developed a comprehensive strategy for protecting the deep sea. The first components have now been tested in the Mediterranean.
It’s all about teamwork at the summer schools.
Zurich

Promoting outstanding young talent

Funding from the Werner Siemens Foundation helps to provide gifted students in the STEM subjects with various kinds of support. For example, the Swiss Study Foundation awards ten annual Werner Siemens Fellowships.
Putting theory to practice: trainees learn how to make electrical switch circuits at the technical upper-secondary vocational school in Valais.
Sion

Promoting vocational training

After completing compulsory schooling, many young people who would like to learn a technical trade lack sufficient skills in maths, physics and chemistry, causing them to struggle during their apprenticeships. Thanks to funding from Werner Siemens Foundation the vocational training programme could be successfully revamped.
The laser scalpel.
Basel

MIRACLE

Researchers at the University of Basel are developing technologies to make minimally invasive bone surgery reality—using robot-guided lasers. The SpectoVR 3D software developed in the MIRACLE project has met with great success, and the novel laser scalpel is now so "smart" that it can monitor its owns incisions.