Launch of the “Student Incubator” Program
© 2019 EPFL
The Smart Living Lab has just introduced a promising incubator program for students in collaboration with the future-orientated company Baloise Group. The so-called “Student Incubator” was launched striving for new insights of the Smart Living Lab’s research areas dedicated to the future of the built environment: well-being and behaviors, interaction and design processes, energy systems and construction technologies. Next deadline for project submissions is on 10 June 2019.
Characterized by its early-stage support, the student incubator allows students to gain valuable experience in the field of innovation without taking any financial risk. The program offers support up to CHF 5000. – (of which CHF 1000. – as a starting grant for accepted students) and professional coaching by members of the Smart Living Lab scientific community. Within the Student Incubator, coaches are acting as the first point of contact for all upcoming expert questions. Consequently, compared to many other incubator programs, students are not completely left to their own devices, as coaches accompany projects in order to ensure a best possible assistance for students aiming to turn their project ideas into reality.
Furthermore, the program offers an interdisciplinary working environment as it is available for all students of the Smart Living Lab’s partner institutions (EPFL, School of Engineering and Architecture of Fribourg and University of Fribourg). Thus, there is the opportunity to work with coaches or participants from other universities and backgrounds.