© SDSC
The Swiss Data Science Center (SDSC), a joint initiative of EPFL and ETH Zurich, is reaching a significant milestone and strengthening its national positioning in data science.
The SDSC expands its activities within the Vaud innovation ecosystem and establishes itself on the Biopôle campus, further enhancing the Canton of Vaud's role as a hub of excellence in data science and artificial intelligence (AI). Moreover, the SDSC's expansion is backed by substantial support from the Canton of Vaud, which is committing CHF 7.5 million until 2028 to develop collaborative innovation projects aligned with SDSC's competencies.
The Canton of Vaud, with its dynamic ecosystem, state-of-the-art infrastructures, innovation hubs, and world-class educational and research institutions, has established itself as the ideal location for hosting this strategic infrastructure. The collaboration between the SDSC and the Canton of Vaud will focus on supporting collaborative innovation projects led by the SDSC and involving institutions such as UNIL and HEIG-VD, as well as local companies, in particular SMEs. This partnership enables Vaud's academic community to join forces with the expertise of EPFL and SDSC to address critical research and innovation challenges in data science and AI. It also provides essential expertise and skills that are crucial for companies today. Over time, this initiative is expected to create up to 100 jobs in French-speaking Switzerland.
A center of excellence focused on innovation
Since its creation in 2017, the SDSC is known for its unique interdisciplinary approach, applying data science to complex challenges in a wide range of fields such as life sciences, energy, and the environment. The center has continuously expanded its activities, providing expertise to an ever-growing number of economic and public sector stakeholders in different fields, including research laboratories, large industrial groups, SMEs, NGOs, and federal and cantonal administrations. Its expansion will further cement its central role as an interface between data science research and public and private sectors.
Following a launch phase, the ETH Board this year reaffirmed the importance of the SDSC as a national research infrastructure, allocating CHF 60 million for the 2025-2028 period (CHF 15 million per year).
Solid support for lasting impact
The Canton of Vaud will begin funding in 2024 through a CHF 500,000 allocation to an 18-month pilot project called ENERBAT. Using data science techniques, this project aims to improve buildings' energy efficiency and assess how they can contribute to the Federal Energy Strategy 2025 (ES 2050). By analyzing building data (such as temperature, humidity, etc.), the project seeks to model the buildings' energy flows to be able to make long and short-term energy consumption forecasts and optimize heating and cooling systems to achieve energy and cost savings.
During the deployment phase from 2025 to 2028, the Canton will contribute CHF 7 million to the creation of a joint innovation program in association with the SDSC. The funds will be used to support projects delivering positive impact on the economy and local municipalities. To this end, the SDSC plans to issue annual calls for projects covering various focus areas, including life sciences, industry, energy, sustainability, and digital transformation.
Switzerland at the leading edge of AI
The SDSC's success is driven in part by its close ties with research groups at ETH Zurich and EPFL. These two universities are among the best in the world in data science and AI - the latest QS World University Ranking puts ETH Zurich in 7th place and EPFL in 11th place overall in those fields. In the Tortoise ranking of countries by AI capacity, Switzerland comes in 5th in terms of the quality of its research and 12th place overall - up from 18th place one year ago.
The Council of State of the Canton of Vaud is deeply grateful to the ETH Board, ETH Zurich and EPFL for partnering with the Canton of Vaud and looks forward to this highly promising collaboration.
