SAMCE 2024: Innovation and networking for the future of manufacturing

Advanced Manufacturing Thursday, 21. November 2024 09:16

SAMCE 2024 not only offered exciting insights into current developments in advanced manufacturing, but also honoured the best contributions from young researchers: Outstanding presentations on topics such as human-robot collaboration and recyclable elastomers were honoured and highlighted just how innovative young Swiss researchers are in this field.

SAMCE 2024 brought together around 100 young researchers, experienced academics and experts from the field of advanced manufacturing on Thursday, 31 October at the University of Applied Sciences and Arts Northwestern Switzerland Brugg-Windisch. During interactive sessions, they exchanged views on current research issues and their own experiences and challenges in the field of advanced manufacturing.

Promoting collaboration and exchange

SAMCE - Swiss Advanced Manufacturing Community Events - is a joint initiative of ETH Zurich, EPFL, Empa, PSI Paul Scherrer Institute, the Strategic Focus Area Advanced Manufacturing and SATW. The aim of SAMCE is to promote a strong community in the field of advanced manufacturing in Switzerland. This is based on the conviction that cross-disciplinary collaboration is key to advancing innovative next-generation manufacturing processes.

Focus on current topics

This year's annual conference focussed on topics such as additive manufacturing, robotics and artificial intelligence as well as sustainability. The many inspiring discussions and networking opportunities that led to new ideas and potential partnerships were particularly exciting. In entertaining formats and with the help of timed presentations, young researchers presented the latest findings from their research (INSPIRE talks) or current challenges (CONNECT talks) where they could use support from the community.

Awards for outstanding contributions

The best presentations were honoured at the end of the conference (more about this further down on this page):

The SAMCE Best IGNITE Talk Award was awarded to Buse Ünlü (EPFL) for her talk on "Accelerating two-photon polymerisation via single-photon absorption assistance."
The SAMCE Best CONNECT Talk Award went to Samuele Dell'Oca (SUPSI) for his presentation on "Harmonising Human-Robot Collaboration."
The SAMCE INDUSTRY Award was handed to Malte Beccard (Empa) for his presentation "Spiropyran-functionalised polysiloxanes: A metallo-supramolecular approach to reprocessable elastomers with ZnCl2 addititve for tunable mechanical and dielectrical purposes."

Interview with the winners

Joint conclusion and thanks to the sponsors

The event was rounded off with a social part - a joint dinner and a game of bowling. Thanks to the support of the following sponsors, the entire event was offered free of charge to participants.