Tasks assigned to the ETH Domain by the Federal Council

This Swiss Economic Institute (KOF) was set up in 1938 and is thus one of Switzerland’s oldest economic research institutes. The institute of ETH Zurich conducts research into economic interconnections and is highly respected nationwide for its forecasts and business studies.

How will the Swiss labour market develop over the next 12 months? What impact is an increasingly strong franc having on export business? These questions are typical of those asked at the Swiss Economic Institute (KOF) at ETH Zurich by politicians, associations and companies. The Institute is known throughout the country for its economic barometer, its business surveys and its economic forecasts. It also publishes an annual KOF Index of Globalization, which measures economic, social and political integration worldwide, as well as the KOF Youth Labour Market Index, which examines various aspects of the situation of young people on the labour market.

Politically independent position

The KOF consists of five research departments, three chairs and 64 full-time positions. It is funded by ETH Zurich and the Swiss Economic Research Society (Schweizerische Gesellschaft für Konjunkturforschung, SGK). It is thus grounded in both science and business and is able to take a politically independent stance in debates. Its well-founded, independent research into questions of relevance to society has made the KOF into one of the most respected voices in economic policy and business in Switzerland today. Its opinion is sought beyond the country’s borders.

Swiss Economic Institute (KOF)	to the page

There are few ecosystems in Switzerland which have been as thoroughly studied as the country’s forests. This is due in part to the National Forest Inventory conducted by WSL. It provides an important basis for decisions affecting Swiss forest and environmental policy.

Almost one third of the surface area of Switzerland is wooded. A growing number of interests are colliding on this land. The forests provide a habitat for animals and plants and a recreation area for people, they supply timber and protect against natural hazards, particularly in mountainous regions. Politicians, researchers, ecologists, forest managers and the timber industry all need up-to-date and comprehensive data if they are to use and protect the forests on a sustainable basis. This information is supplied by the National Forest Inventory (NFI), managed jointly by WSL, a research institute in the ETH Domain, and the Forest Division of the Federal Office for the Environment (FOEN). The NFI and other surveys together form a national forest information system.

Systematic sampling throughout Switzerland

The NFI records the state of and changes in Switzerland’s forests. Systematic sampling enables scientists at WSL working with local forestry service providers to record data on trees, growing stocks and trial areas. The published results include information on forest area, the number of trees, growing stocks, increments, use and biodiversity. WSL is responsible for planning, surveying, analysis and scientific interpretation, while FOEN handles the political aspects. The first NFI took place from 1983 to 1985, the second survey followed from 1993 to 1995, and the third inventory was carried out from 2004 to 2006. The continuous survey for the fourth NFI started in 2009 and will run until 2017.

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On behalf of the Federal Office for the Environment, Empa oversees the National Air Pollution Monitoring Network. The measurements at 16 sites all across Switzerland aid early detection of problematic air pollutants and evaluation of the effectiveness of Swiss environmental policy.

The quality of the air in Switzerland has improved considerably in recent decades as a result of a large number of measures. However, various immission levels are still too high, such as winter smog pollution, the ozone values in summer and excessive nitrogen contamination of forests and ecosystems. On the emissions side, particulate matter and climatically active gases are among the causes for concern.

For environmental protection authorities at all levels, it is therefore important to be able to measure current air pollution precisely and to monitor its development on the medium and long term. The National Air Pollution Monitoring Network (NABEL) was set up for this purpose. The project is jointly run by Empa and the Federal Office for the Environment (FOEN).

16 measuring stations throughout Switzerland

The NABEL measurement network comprises 16 measuring stations distributed all throughout Switzerland. Their locations represent Switzerland’s most commonly occurring pollution situations. This enables a detailed impression of the air quality throughout the entire country to be obtained with a relatively small number of point measurements. For instance, NABEL stations are situated in large cities like Zurich, Basle, Berne and Lausanne VD, along major transport axes like in Härkingen SO and Payerne VD, in mountain towns like Davos GR and on peaks like Rigi SZ. Some of the stations are part of international measurement programmes, namely the European Monitoring and Evaluation Programme (EMEP) and Global Atmosphere Watch (GAW).

Empa is responsible for operating NABEL as a public service. In addition, the programme is an important platform for research projects.

National Air Pollution Monitoring Network (NABEL)	to the page

The Paul Scherrer Institute (PSI) has been developing, constructing and operating complex large-scale research facilities for several decades. The research institute also makes these facilities available to external researchers at universities, research institutes and in industry – for researchers in Switzerland, this is the only opportunity to carry out such experiments in the country.

The PSI, part of the ETH Domain, has large-scale, complex research facilities that allow experiments to be performed in the fields of physics, chemistry, biology, medicine, material science and energy and environmental technology. These facilities include the neutron source SINQ, the Swiss light source SLS and the muon source SµS. They are unique in Switzerland, as they are complicated and expensive to operate. Researchers in a variety of disciplines from universities and other research institutes can obtain decisive findings for their research in experiments using PSI’s large-scale facilities, which often lends them a competitive edge. As a user laboratory, the PSI not only offers access to its facilities but also sets great store by providing highly experienced instrument technicians to professionally assist external scientists by precisely adjusting their complex equipment to suit the user’s needs.

Beam time in high demand

Around 4,560 working visits were made to the PSI in 2010, 1,141 of which by researchers from Switzerland. In total, approximately 1,755 experiments were carried out. The demand for beam time exceeds the actual time available. For this reason, researchers must submit a proposal, with beam time being allocated to only the best proposals. Most Swiss users come from the ETH Zurich and the University of Zurich, closely followed by the EPFL. PSI’s regular guests also include researchers from the universities in Basel, Berne, Fribourg, Geneva, Lausanne and Neuchâtel. The research arm of the Swiss pharmaceutical industry has financed its own measuring stations at the large-scale facilities, so it visits the PSI just as regularly as other Swiss companies, which prefer to remain unnamed for competitive reasons.

User service PSI	to the page

The Ecotox Centre is the centre for applied ecotoxicology in Switzerland. Its goals are to detect and assess the environmental effects of chemicals and to develop strategies for minimizing their risk. With its focus on knowledge management/knowledge and technology transfer the Centre represents an important bridge between research and practice.

The Ecotox Centre shares and transfers expert knowledge and teaches professional skills. It is engaged in practice-oriented education and professional development and provides information to the public.

The Ecotox Centre, with its focus on aquatic ecotoxicology and risk assessment, has its main premises at Eawag in Dübendorf, with a second group, focusing on soil and sediment ecotoxicology, at the EPFL in Lausanne.

Whenever the earth moves anywhere in the world, the possibility of an earthquake in Switzerland hits the headlines too. And the headlines are accompanied by a comment from the Swiss Seismological Service (SED) at the ETH Zurich. The SED monitors seismic activity throughout the country and formulates preventive measures.

The SED is the federal agency specialising in earthquakes. It monitors seismic activity throughout Switzerland and carries out studies of the country’s earthquake risk. SED’s activities are integrated into the federal package of measures designed to reduce potential damage associated with an earthquake in Switzerland.

Highly sensitive measuring network

The SED monitors seismic activity in Switzerland and neighbouring areas using a digital high-sensitivity system (SDSNet). The seismometers are extremely sensitive and are thus positioned in remote areas on solid rock. All seismic signals are transmitted continuously to the SED data centre in Zurich, where the data is evaluated automatically, and manually if needed, and is then archived. Some 700 gigabytes of data are stored every year.

In addition to the high-sensitivity SDSNet, the Seismological Service also uses a national network of instruments that monitor strong motion. This equipment is capable of recording undistorted signals even during very powerful quakes. The instruments are distributed in Switzerland’s seismically active regions, with special emphasis on high-risk areas such as Valais, Basel and the larger agglomerations. Strong-motion measuring stations have also been installed in the dams of some of Switzerland’s larger reservoirs in collaboration with the Federal Office of Energy and the operators of large hydroelectric power stations.

Services for industry and the public

The SED provides a number of further services for industry and public institutions in relation, for example, to geothermal energy projects and the assessment of seismic risk for the cantonal and communal structure plans. The specialists at The SED are always pleased to answer questions from the public and the media. The SED also pursues its own activities designed to increase awareness of the risk of earthquakes in Switzerland and of the need for preparedness.

Swiss Seismological Service (SED)	to the page

The Swiss Plasma Center (SPC) at the EPFL is an important national and international hub in the development of controlled fusion into a new source of energy.

The SPC is part of the Faculty of Basic Sciences at the EPFL. It employs around 130 people, 110 of them in Lausanne and 20 at PSI in Villigen (Aargau). For years the SPC has had a federal mandate to participate in the European research programme to develop a fusion reactor. This core task is focused on its experimental tokamak facilities (a tokamak is a fusion reactor in which the plasma is confined within a magnetic field inside a torus).

The great potential of nuclear fusion

There are two very different ways of releasing the energy from nuclei. The first is by the fission of heavy atoms such as uranium, which is the concept used by existing nuclear power plants. The second is by combining isotopes of hydrogen (deuterium and tritium) to form helium in a process known as nuclear fusion. The latter imitates processes that take place in the sun and cause it to release energy.

Controlled nuclear fusion could become a major new source of energy in the future, particularly in view of the growing scepticism about nuclear fission. Nuclear fusion has some major advantages over other energy sources. The basic fuels are non-radioactive and abundantly available all over the world. It is not possible for an accident in the reactor with catastrophic consequences to occur. The reactor itself contains only very small amounts of fuel at any one time, and if the fusion reaction gets out of control it stops immediately. Moreover, the problem of radioactive waste is limited and nuclear fusion, like nuclear fission, is CO2 neutral.

Important contributions to sciences and teaching

The SPC has been actively involved in fundamental research and teaching in the wider field of plasma physics since 1961. The fusion technology groups at PSI were attached to the SPC in 1994. In addition to plasma physics teaching and research, the institute’s missions are primarily the development of its expertise and technology transfer.

Swiss Plasma Center (SPC)	to the page

In November 1996, the PSI notched up a world first when a cancer patient was treated with a new radiation technique; the spotscanning technique for proton radiation, in the Center for Proton Therapy. In this technique, a thin proton beam scans tumours inside the body precisely, destroying the tumour cells while protecting the surrounding tissue at the same time. Back then, the methodology developed by PSI researchers represented a breakthrough in radiation therapy and quickly became a successful product. Nowadays, spot-scanning is the standard technique used worldwide in proton therapy. Over the past 25 years, over 2000 cancer patients have been treated routinely and very successfully with it at the Center for Proton Therapy of the PSI.

Center for Proton Therapy CPT	to the page