Switzerland to get Space innovation cluster

"Space research is a perfect fit for Switzerland," says Thomas Zurbuchen in an interview with "Globe", the magazine of the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich(ETH). "It's about high quality and good engineering - things that Switzerland is known for. It is also a rapidly growing market. Switzerland has good opportunities here to position itself as a location for companies."

The Swiss-North American astrophysicist was Science Director of the US space agency NASA from 2016 to 2022 and has headed the ETH Zurich Space initiative since August 2023. ETH thus intends to expand its space research and teaching and strengthen cooperation with the space industry.

According to Zurbuchen, the aim is to ensure that Switzerland "seizes its opportunities, remains competitive and increases its international visibility. In this way, we can take advantage of Switzerland's uniqueness and do things that no one else can." In addition, more and more areas of research have to do with observations from space. "To do this, we have to get the experiments from the lab into space quickly."

In order to fully exploit Switzerland's potential, the ETH Domain Space wants to "establish an innovation cluster in Switzerland and find funding to help start-ups grow", says Zurbuchen. ESA BIC Switzerland, a funding initiative of the European Space Agency(ESA) and ETH Zurich, is currently already supporting 21 start-ups working in the field of space technology. "And I'm thrilled that we were able to launch the new Master's degree course in Space Systems this fall." It is to be established as one of the world's best.

The aim is to expand cooperation with companies from the space sector and to play a leading role in major missions by ESA, NASA and other space agencies. "I would also like us to network better," says Zurbuchen. "Switzerland is too small for competition between universities." ce/mm