Faces behind EuroTech: Klaus Schönenberger, EPFL

3 questions to Klaus Schönenberger

What do you appreciate most about working at your university and/or your department?

EPFL is a school that dares to ask difficult questions about its role in society. When I approached it 10 years ago with a proposal to launch an initiative to develop essential technologies for low-income countries, there was no hesitation. The model we proposed was really innovative in that the idea was not to start from technology but from real and local need in poor countries. The proposed strategy was to build projects in close collaboration with actors in the countries concerned and to involve the school’s laboratories according to the needs of the project. We also identified the need to extend the partnerships to actors in other fields such as medical, social or economic sciences. The problem of the fight against poverty is much too complex to be carried out “only” by engineers or so-called “hard” sciences. Finally, we also decided not to postpone the question of deploying solutions developed in the academic world, but to integrate the development of sustainable business models from the start. This “heresy” allowed us to successfully transfer several innovations to the private sector, without them having to go through the (in)famous “valley of death”. We were able to demonstrate the importance of de-risking solutions on an economic, social and environmental standpoint while they were still in the academic domain. I admire EPFL for having accepted to move away from the strict academic dogma that tends to push back these questions, and to restrict itself to scientific publications in prestigious journals. The good news is that we have discovered that one does not prevent the other!

What is your goal in the short, mid, or long term?

We have found that researchers and students are extremely keen on projects that support sustainable development, humanitarian action or peace. They generally do not realize that their knowledge can play a crucial role in these areas. All too often the researcher is humble and tells us that his/her field of expertise is “only technological”. When we show them the importance of this technological brick in a project with a great potential impact on social problems in poor or crisis-affected countries, then their motivation is extraordinary. My goal is simply to “unleash” these forces and provide a framework for these impressive skills to be mobilized. This is the main challenge, but also an unsuspected opportunity for innovation. Indeed, the constraints of poor countries, of contexts in humanitarian crisis or in conflict are such that the degree of innovation required is very high. Imagine: a context where the infrastructure does not work at all or works poorly, where there is a lack of trained personnel, where financial resources are scarce and where the climate is harsh! Often there is no access to electricity or it is unstable, there are no means of recycling waste, no access to clean water etc. The solutions must therefore be cheap, robust and sustainable, operating with low energy requirements and relying on renewable sources. They must not produce waste or contain toxic components. Due to the lack of trained personnel, because they have fled the country or been killed, the solutions developed must be simple to use and maintain. When we consider criteria like simple, cheap, non-polluting, robust/sustainable, we are sure to develop solutions not only interesting for these poor or crisis contexts, but also for industrialized countries! I am convinced that this approach of developing technologies based on a social impact goal will also contribute to change the industrial fabric in depth.

In an ideal world…

In an Ideal world our center would no longer need to exist! Unfortunately, we can see that extreme poverty is increasing after two years of health crisis. Inequalities are also increasing not only between countries, but also within countries and regions. The climate crisis is here and our researchers are exhausting themselves sounding the alarm. Finally, the war in Ukraine reminds us that international tensions, fueled by extremism and growing polarization in the virtual and real world, could boil over at any moment.

The scientific world has crucial resources that it often ignores! It must absolutely invest itself much more massively and directly in these problems. My goal is therefore to propose new paths and practical approaches for a more harmonious coexistence between humans, as well as between humans and the environment. At EssentialTech, we are celebrating ten years of activity this year, but more importantly, we will try to explore how we can expand our impact.

I am looking forward to all the collaborations we can build, I hope also within EuroTech partners, for sustainable development, humanitarian action and peace.