Who we are
Founded in 2007, the EPFL+ECAL Lab is part of the EPFL Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, one of the top two research universities in mainland Europe (QS Ranking 2022). The lab’s mission is to perform innovation, education and research through design practice with emerging technologies.
The EPFL+ECAL Lab
The EPFL+ECAL Lab combines academic research, artistic creativity and cultural understanding to positively influence the human perception of new technologies.
With a transdisciplinary team of designers, engineers and psychologists, it has developed a fully integrated methodology to move beyond a tech-driven world; it explores contexts and terrains, creates disruptive solutions, builds prototypes and ultimately evaluates their emotional and cognitive impact on people.
Projects target diverse critical challenges in fields including health, media, trust and security, heritage and museology, immersive technologies, food and sustainability.
The context
EPFL knowledge
Rooted in the culture of EPFL, the EPFL+ECAL Lab benefits from the university’s top-level infrastructures for supporting creativity, experimentation and prototyping.
We regularly interact and collaborate with EPFL’s numerous labs, research groups, centres and schools.
The lab belongs to EPFL’s Associate Vice Presidency for Centers and Platforms, which allows us to boost synergies and regroup resources to support EPFL’s research, teaching and innovation missions.
ECAL creativity
Situated within the building of leading art and design school ECAL, the EPFL+ECAL Lab is immersed in creativity.
The lab fosters daily interactions with ECAL, through project collaborations and skills exchange in domains including media and interaction design, visual communication and product design.
ECAL is the founding partner of EPFL+ECAL Lab. The lab benefits from the school’s facilities and expertise in creative production, education and knowledge generation.
All projects led by the EPFL+ECAL Lab are developed by our team in our studio space in Renens. Though not open to the public on a daily basis, you can visit the EPFL+ECAL Lab during different in-house events and exhibitions throughout the year and discover our research work and latest prototypes. Follow our news, join us on social media or subscribe to our newsletter to stay updated about the next open visits.