Budding ideas for food and agriculture
ETH Zurich is at the Olma trade fair in St. Gallen until 23 October. Its exhibition “Where the future begins – research for sustainable agriculture” presents exciting ETH spin-offs and provides playful insights into modern agricultural sciences.
“Diverse and exciting” – this is the motto for the Olma trade fair this autumn in St. Gallen. Federal President Ignazio Cassis sees it as a colourful celebration of ideas: “Anyone who enjoys innovation and diversity should come to Olma. It’s an experience. It is connections and discussions,” he said in his opening speech, adding that meeting people there leads to new ideas and perspectives.
Cassis also provided some food for thought. With an eye on the greatest challenges – such as climate change, hunger crises and wars – he spoke of a changing era and emphasised the importance of the Swiss agricultural and food industry in all its diversity: “The sector – from small-scale farmers to major companies – not only contributes to our country’s security of supply, but also strengthens sustainable food production around the world,” he stated.
“Let’s allow ourselves to be surprised by the diversity and inspired by the innovation,” Cassis recommended the attendees.
A breeding ground for business ideas
On his traditional opening tour, the Swiss president also visited ETH Zurich’s booth, where diversity and innovation are playing a particularly significant role as well: the exhibition entitled “Where the future begins – research in sustainable agriculture” is focused this year on new companies from the university’s entrepreneurial ecosystem.
“At ETH, around two dozen spin-offs and start-ups are founded each year. Thanks to targeted support, they achieve above-average success and thereby transfer the fruits of research into business and society,” says Detlef Günther, ETH Vice President for Research.
Günther, who spent five years in charge of knowledge transfer into society at ETH Zurich, was present to greet Federal President Cassis at the new Start-up Tower at the centre of the ETH booth.
At the tower, five new companies are presenting their business ideas from the fields of agriculture and food – they all share the vision of making our food system more sustainable:
- external page Yasai is on hand to explain vertical farms.
- external page Planted produces meat from alternative proteins.
- external page Fabas is presenting Switzerland’s only local hummus.
- Caterra is displaying a laser- and AI-based weeding robot.
- external page Digit Soil is demonstrating a health sensor for soil.
Playful access to agricultural sciences
Visitors to the family-friendly ETH booth can also enjoy four interactive games – the “Drone Course”, the “Ruminant Simulator”, “Agricultural Policy Jenga” and “Morph Tales: Discovering Artificial Intelligence”. The games introduce children, teenagers and adults to central research questions in the areas of crops, agricultural economics and animal nutrition, and increase understanding of artificial intelligence.
With its focus on games and spin-offs, the exhibition aims to provide the general public with easy-to-grasp information about how ETH research from various areas can contribute to a more environmentally friendly, resource-conserving and socially acceptable food system.
“Olma offers us a stage to show what we’re doing for Swiss agriculture. And it also gives us an opportunity to talk to the general public and to farmers,” says Günther.
Strengthening research
Finally, Günther returns to the challenges that Cassis mentioned in his speech: “Particularly when it comes to global problems such as climate change, biodiversity or the global food system, Swiss universities are reliant on interdisciplinary collaboration with our neighbours.”
“To ensure that Switzerland can continue to achieve outstanding results as a research location, we need access to the European Research Area,” Günther concludes.
Further information about ETH at Olma 2022
You can find detailed information, including about all the exhibitors and games, on the website about ETH’s presence at Olma. Olma will run for another ten days until Sunday, 23 October 2022.