D-INFK news channel

Hidden in the hills of Lugano, the Alps supercomputer at CSCS is one of the world’s fastest – and greenest. In this BBC News feature, Prof. Torsten Hoefler of the Department of Computer Science at ETH Zurich explains how Alps is revolutionising climate research and AI with cutting-edge performance and eco-friendly design.

Every tumour is unique. This makes it difficult to find the most effective therapy for treatment. Researchers in Zurich and Basel are now showing how state-of-the-art molecular biological technologies can be used to create a detailed tumour profile within four weeks, enabling tailored treatment. The study is the first of its kind in the world.

From 22 to 29 March 2025, it’s that time again: companies, universities and organisations in the Greater Zurich Area are inviting you to dive into the fascinating world of computer science as part of the Informatiktage. On Saturday, 29 March, the Department of Computer Science, together with the ETH AI Center, the ETH IT Services, the Swiss Data Science Center and several ETH spin-offs and start-ups, will open their doors and invite visitors to a diverse mix of programme highlights.

DisneyResearch|Studios, a close partner of ETH Zurich and led by Computer Science Professor Markus Gross, has been selected to receive a Scientific and Technical Award from the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences for its Machine Learning Denoiser technology. The Academy recognises technologies that have proven to add significant value to the process of making motion pictures.

ETH Zurich and EPF Lausanne are intensifying their collaboration in artificial intelligence. They have founded the Swiss National AI Institute (SNAI) to address challenges in AI by leveraging their broad scientific expertise. The new institute draws on the expertise from various AI research disciplines as well as on the ETH AI Center and the EPFL AI Center.

On 14 September, ETH Zurich officially inaugurated the new 'Alps' supercomputer at the Swiss National Supercomputing Centre (CSCS) in Lugano. The celebrations in Lugano were attended by Federal Councillor Guy Parmelin and well-known personalities from the worlds of science and politics.

ETH’s outstanding reputation attracts top-flight researchers from all over the world. This pool of talent makes Zurich a major draw for global companies such as Microsoft, with the opportunity for new research projects being established. Professor Marc Pollefeys from the Department of Computer Science now runs Microsoft’s Mixed Reality & AI Lab alongside his teaching and research commitments at ETH Zurich.

IBM and ETH Zurich announce a Discovery Accelerator Hub within the ETH AI Center, as ETH joins the AI Alliance.

Raphael Steiner received his doctorate in mathematics at the age of 21. Now the Swiss National Science Foundation is funding his research at the ETH Institute of Theoretical Computer Science in the field of graph theory. Among other things, this involves proving a conjecture that is over 80 years old.

Experts from ETH Zurich including Professor Gunnar Rätsch, the University of Zurich, and the University Hospital Zurich have used machine learning to jointly create an innovative method. This new approach can predict how individual cells react to specific treatments, offering hope for more accurate diagnoses and therapeutics.

From Sept. 1, 2023, Professor Torsten Hoefler will be affiliated with the Swiss National Supercomputing Centre (CSCS). CSCS, with its upcoming new “Alps” high-performance computing (HPC) infrastructure, and the ETH professor want to jointly test and advance methods and applications for machine learning (ML) and artificial intelligence (AI) applications.

ETH AI Center fellow Elvis Nava teaches robots to carry out oral and written commands. To this end, he sends them to “training camps” where they learn to combine image, text and motion data.

PD Dr. Andreas Mueller from University Hospital Basel and Dr. Barbara Solenthaler from the Computer Graphics Laboratory at D-INFK are combining medicine and computer graphics to improve pre-surgical cleft lip and palate treatment.

Johanna Pirker, Assistant Professor at Graz University of Technology, spent September and October as a visiting professor at the Game Technology Center (GTC) of ETH Zurich. In this interview, she explains what we can learn from video games and why our image of gamers does not correspond to reality.

Game developers from the ETH Game Technology Center have created an app that explains bone remodelling in a playful way. If students point the camera of their mobile device at the textbook, they find themselves transported to the bone’s surface, where they help cells break down bone tissue.

The new collaboration with professor Ryan Cotterell focuses on AI text prediction technology with a specialisation in advanced sentence prediction, grammar assistance, enterprise customisation, and voice support. The work is funded by the Swiss innovation agency Innosuisse.

Data contains much more than just the information on the surface. With statistics, deeper cause-​and-effect relationships can be brought to light. This is what Alexander Marx is researching as a Fellow at the ETH AI Center using artificial intelligence. One of his goals is to be able to make predictions regarding diabetes in children.

The EXCLAIM research initiative is developing a new generation of high-resolution weather and climate models. D-INFK professors Torsten Hoefler and Andreas Krause, as well as the Swiss Data Science Center, are part of the multidisciplinary project.

How transparent are decisions that are based on artificial intelligence and machine learning? Professor Andreas Krause, Chair of the ETH AI Center and head of the Learning and Adaptive Systems group, shares his thoughts on trustworthy artificial intelligence.

From robots that offer solace to algorithms that help judges make fact-​based decisions, robotics and machine learning are entering new domains that were once the preserve of humans.

Under the direction of D-INFK Professor Juraj Hromkovic, the ABZ trained children for the robotics competition entitled "First Lego League". Two teams made it to the finals, one of which was received by ETH Rector Sarah Springman for a visit.

The Federal Statistical Office (FSO) is joining forces with the Swiss Data Science Center (SDSC) to encourage the use of data science and artificial intelligence within the administration.

Bühler AG and the Swiss Data Science Center have collaborated to establish a new approach for the design of cooling, in order to further increase the process performance and still maintain high part quality.

Gifted children are often not challenged enough at school. As a result, their motivation and love of learning suffer. The Centre for Gifted Education at the Department of Computer Science aims to counteract this with extracurricular courses.

Quantum research has long since ceased to be an exclusive domain of physics. The purpose of the new ETH Quantum Center is to ensure ETH Zurich’s various competences and activities in this area are networked even more closely and to raise their public profile.

An app created by the Game Technology Center at ETH Zurich lets visitors experience the new exhibition at the Graphische Sammlung in an interactive way.

The newly opened ETH AI Center intensifies the dialogue with business, politics and society about an innovative and trust-​building advancement of artificial intelligence.

Alexander Ilic is the Executive Director of the newly founded ETH AI Center, which will open officially on October 20. What motivated the entrepreneur to return to ETH Zurich?

The Media Technology Center is teaching computers to speak Swiss German and searching for applications that could lend a hand with day-​​to-​day editorial work. Professor Ryan Cotterell brings together linguistics, automated language processing and artificial intelligence to change the one-​​solution approach that modern translation programs typically offer.

ETH Zurich promotes innovation in AI technology. This includes the extension of its partnership with the Max Planck Society, the launch of the European Laboratory for Learning and Intelligent Systems (ELLIS) and the opening of the ETH AI Center. Professors Thomas Hofmann and Andreas Krause are at the forefront of these efforts.

The European AI network ELLIS celebrates its launch today, with ETH Zurich as a founding member. The ELLIS Unit is an integral part of the new ETH AI Center, which are both chaired by Prof. Andreas Krause.

The Max Planck ETH Center for Learning Systems has just been renewed for another five years. Co-director Prof. Thomas Hofmann explains the role he sees for the center in Europe.

A step towards new media worlds: The Media Technology Center at ETH Zurich is researching how Augmented Reality can be applied to everyday life and supports media companies on their path to the future.

ETH Zurich is one of four selected universities around the world to establish adaptive compute research clusters with teams from Xilinx, a company that develops highly flexible and adaptive processing platforms to enable rapid innovation across a variety of technologies.

Virtual assistants cannot understand Swiss German. The ETH Media Technology Center is working to change that by teaching machines to speak and understand different Swiss German dialects.

Data science methods have applications in many different fields in academia and industry. To foster the adoption of data-driven science, the Swiss Data Science Center was founded two and a half years ago. Jointly backed by ETH Zurich and EPFL and supported by the computer science departments of both universities, the centre has already made significant progress towards its goal to make data science more open, transparent and accessible in both academia and industry.

Electronic devices can spark kids’ creativity, says Stéphane Magnenat from the Game Technology Center. But doing so requires apps that bridge the real and virtual worlds.

The new ETH+ initiative to strengthen data science, spread across several departments, was launched in January 2019.

For the past decade, computer graphics specialists like Prof. M. Gross and Prof. B. Sumner have been conducting research on behalf of The Walt Disney Company.

So called dark data are documents that machines cannot read. In cooperation with Zurich Insurance, Professor Ce Zhang brings light into the dark. 

ETH Lausanne and ETH Zurich’s Swiss Data Science Center is off to a successful start. In September, scientists at the Center launched their open source platform Renga. First research projects have been chosen.

ETH Zurich will establish a professorship and new centre for media technology together with media companies Tamedia, Ringier and the NZZ Media Group. The centre aims to better integrate research and practical applications and to help the Swiss media sector make use of technological advances.

Augmented creativity can encourage children towards a new-​found sense of creativity, cooperation and interaction with their environment. ETH Zurich’s Game Technology Center will present its latest apps in the field at the CeBIT computer expo.

Machines will become not just more intelligent in the future, but also more capable of learning. To promote research in this field, ETH Zurich and the Max Planck Society officially open the Max Planck ETH Center for Learning Systems today. The scientists want to understand the theoretical principles of learning and how these can be applied to real machines.

ETH Zurich is expanding its Zurich Information Security and Privacy Center (ZISC). A donation of five million Swiss francs has been made by Zürcher Kantonalbank to the ETH Zurich Foundation specifically for this purpose.

ETH Zurich’s new Game Technology Center in the Department of Computer Science will pool Swiss know-​how in the development of computer games. This was announced on Wednesday as part of the final presentation of the Game Programming Laboratory.

In this interview, the CEO of Avaloq discusses his company's recent donation to the Excellence Scholarship & Opportunity Programme of ETH. The company has changed the paradigms in modern banking software and strongly believes in the power of higher education, proving that a business is and can be philanthropic in and of itself.

Good companies are hard to find; good people with the highest potential can be even harder. But when both parties get together, then revolutionary things can happen – the kind of things that make a real impact by providing innovative technological solutions for complex challenges that people face around the globe. For years and at different levels of the business, Google and ETH have collaborated closely to achieve the maximum impact and value of their research and innovation.

Google is working with various universities and other institutions on Project Tango, an initiative to develop mobile devices that can detect surroundings in three dimensions and enable navigation indoors. The first devices are expected to hit the market next year. ETH Zurich has a significant role in the project.

The machines that surround us in everyday life are not only becoming more intelligent, they’re also turning into gifted learners. To prepare the next generation of computer scientists for the challenges presented by this rapidly developing research area, ETH Zurich has joined forces with the Max-​Planck-Institute for Intelligent Systems.

ETH and the Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems have joined forces to form a research network in learning systems.

ETH Zurich and EPFL are jointly entering into a new research partnership with Microsoft Research. Over five years, Microsoft Research will provide five million Swiss francs of funding to support IT research projects. Microsoft researchers will also work closely with the scientists at the two universities.

Top honour for ETH-Zurich professor and Disney director Markus Gross: he is to receive a “Tech Oscar” from the Academy of Motion and Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) along with three other computer scientists for a procedure they developed which leading special effects studios now use to simulate smoke and explosions in Hollywood films.