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Modern technologies such as computers, smartphones, TVs and gaming consoles are alleged to exert a variety of impacts, both positive and negative.

Atmospheric pollutants put a strain on the environment and harbor health hazards for humans. The Empa spin-off MIRO Analytical Technologies developed a technology to simultaneously analyze nine greenhouse gases and pollutants with only one device and at an unprecedented speed and precision. Air pollution is a problem that affects us all.

Atmospheric pollutants put a strain on the environment and harbor health hazards for humans. The Empa spin-off MIRO Analytical Technologies developed a technology to simultaneously analyze nine greenhouse gases and pollutants with only one device and at an unprecedented speed and precision. Air pollution is a problem that affects us all.

Producing living tissue or organs based on human cells is one of the main research fields in regenerative medicine. Tissue engineering, which involves growing replacement parts in the laboratory, forms a key part of this research. The parts can be used to replace defective cells and tissues in the body and restore their normal functioning.

The wide use of smartphones in our working and private lives has led to an unprecedented level of networking between people. Aside from the possibilities that the smartphone offers, there are also side-effects such as distraction while driving or at work. Bern researchers now show that differences in personality in our capacity for self-control can explain whether people react immediately to smartphone signals.

The Joint Photographic Experts Group (JPEG), an international committee headed by an EPFL professor, has just unveiled JPEG XS. With this new format, the image-compression process uses less energy, and higher-quality images can be sent with low latency over broadband networks like 5G. JPEG XS will have applications in areas such as virtual reality, augmented reality, space imagery, self-driving cars and professional movie editing.

EPFL spin-off Embion Technologies has developed a soluble fiber powder made from barley residue from the beer-making process that can be used to reduce the sucrose content of a wide range of foods. This by-product also appears to lower cholesterol levels and reduce the risk of cardiovascular diseases.

EPFL and Nissan researchers are able to read a driver's brain signals and send them to a smart vehicle so that it can anticipate the driver's moves and facilitate the driving process.

To improve diagnosis and treatment of children under five, Swiss TPH together with the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) developed the electronic decision support tool ALMANACH.

How much impact does research carried out at individual universities have on innovation globally? To find out, a team of scientists from several schools developed a ranking system based on citations in patent literature. And on that score, EPFL sits in seventh place, just behind Stanford and above the California Institute of Technology.

Researchers at EPFL have developed a system that can be installed in a building to collect data on people's energy usage. The aim is then to send this data directly to a smart electric grid that will allocate resources optimally. A smart grid that decides how best to distribute energy based on availability, cost and customers' needs - that's the energy concept being developed by researchers in the School of Engineering's Electronics Laboratory.

25 spin-offs were founded at ETH Zurich last year. This equals the previous year's record level for new ETH spin-offs.

Researchers from the University of Bern, Inselspital, Bern University Hospital and the Swiss Center for Electronics and Microtechnology develop a high-precision, sensor-based surgical robot for spinal operations together with industry partners. Their project is being funded with two million Swiss francs, sponsored by the "BRIDGE" programme of the Swiss National Science Foundation and the Commission for Technology and Innovation.

For the very first time, the "Innovation Lab", a special exhibition for digital transformations in the construction industry, will be held at Swissbau 2018 from 16 to 20 January. NEST, the modular research and demonstration platform from Empa and Eawag, will be presenting with its partners (in hall 1.1, booth L88) how digital construction is implemented in reality and exactly what kind of potential for digital innovation is offered by the set of demonstrators on the Empa campus in Dübendorf.

EPFL researchers have come up with a fact-based system to measure urban cleanliness. Municipal authorities will now be able to draw on objective assessments when planning their street cleaning - a sector with multi-million-franc budgets. The concept is straightforward: on one hand, vehicles equipped with video cameras to record the city streets, and on the other, a computer able to spot waste, identify it and classify it - in the blink of an eye.

Technis, an EPFL spin-off, has developed a system that combines a connected floor surface with artificial intelligence to track people's trajectories as they walk through a shopping mall or convention center, for example.

Researchers from ETH Zurich have built a prototype of an ultra-thin, curved concrete roof using innovative digital design and fabrication methods.

Thanks to an innovative technology for encoding data in DNA strands, two items of world heritage - songs recorded at the Montreux Jazz Festival and digitized by EPFL - have been safeguarded for eternity.