EPFL level

EPFL is strongly involved in the transfer of know-how and research toward the external world with a variety of tools and mechanisms:

The Vice-Presidency for Innovation (VPI) has the following competences:

  • Research partnerships and collaborations
  • Innovation projects and industrial liaison
  • Technology transfer (intellectual property, patents, copyrights and licenses)
  • Entrepreneurship support – Innogrants
  • Transdisciplinary centers
  • Support for CTI Innovation Projects

The missions of the Technology Transfer Office (TTO) are:

  • Managing the intellectual property resulting from research
  • Evaluating new inventions
  • Negotiating and approving research contracts with industrial partners
  • Licensing new technologies
  • Supporting start-up creation

TTO movie – Your idea grows with us

Technology Transfer at EPFL – Guide for scientist (PDF, 2.8MB) (EPFL SRI, 2008)


The Foundation EPFL Innovation Park, a part of EPFL’s Entrepreneurial Ecosystem, provides facilities and services to promote start-ups and for large innovative companies.

Check-out their offer here!

While the free co-working space la Forge offers free co-working space and networking opportunites for early stage start-up projects, the EPFL Innovation Park Foundation organizes, for the account of Swiss Innovation Agency, the free “Business Concept” training for ambitious researchers and students.


Alliance is the industrial liaison program for the French part of Switzerland.


The EPFL alumni start-up mentoring program is designed to allocate 3 mentors to an EPFL entrepreneur in order to serenely approach the human and technical challenges of starting up a new venture.

TechTransfer & Innovation tools around EPFL

Corinne Zuber & Hervé Lebret Dec 2018 (PDF size 3.4MB)