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LTA : a new technology platform to reinforce enterprises’ innovation

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The Laboratory of Advanced Technology (LTA) is a joint platform of the University of Geneva and the HES-SO Genève designed to reinforce the interactions between academic institutions and industries, essential for the emergence of innovative technologies. The LTA provides small, medium and large companies with original technical solutions, expanding the existing offer of initiatives supporting businesses.

This new platform further aims to valorize the expertise and develop the unique infrastructure of the University of Geneva and the HES-SO Genève.

Inaugurated on 17 November 2015 by the Rector of the University of Geneva (UNIGE) Yves Flückiger, and the Director of HES-SO Genève, François Abbé-Decarroux, the LTA allows enterprises to access the infrastructures and expertise of UNIGE and HES-SO Genève to implement their projects. This new platform promotes resources sharing with industrial partners and internally, provides new opportunities for transversal academic research and engineering and also stimulates interactions between students, young researchers and enterprises.

The LTA was inaugurated in collaboration with the Service de la promotion économique de Genève and with the support of the Office de Promotion des Industries et des Technologies and of the Union Industrielle Genevoise. During the inauguration ceremony, Jacques Baur, head of R&D at Rolex SA and Roberto Perez head of applied research, deputy head of R&D Innovation at GF Machining Solutions acclaimed the initiative testifying to the support of the Geneva industry.

Since its creation, several enterprises in search of technological solutions, especially in the watchmaking, electrotechnics and biomedical industry, have already benefited from the services proposed by the LTA.

The LTA is, for example, collaborating with Sécheron SA to design new composite material for circuit breakers intended for the railroad networks. The main goal of this collaboration is to develop new silver-based composites to be used as contact material in very high power direct current circuit breakers. A collaboration with the company Agenhor aimed at developing a miniature optical system to be integrated in a watch prototype. « The alliance of our watch-making know-how and the high academic expertise of the LTA allowed us to validate our prototype and to envisage a production from 2016 », explains Nicolas Wiederrecht  of Agenhor. Jean Daniel Schmid, director of La manufacture CSC emphasises that « The advices and proposals brought by the LTA allowed us to work out a convincing prototype. We did really appreciate their motivation to drive things forward, to answer the technical challenges of the project as well as their availability.” This last example focused on exploring methods of densification of structured nobel metals produced by 3D printing.

More information about LTA

Press release (in French)

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