Science in action: Swiss technical universities are getting courted by an increasing number of international companies. Powerhouses like Microsoft, IBM and Disney all have running "brain-power" contracts with the technical schools in both Zurich and Lausanne. But are corporations simply colonising academic minds? Swiss News looks at these emerging ventures from both sides.

AuteurHeddema, Renske
Fonction BUSINESS FEATURE

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

The pink villa housing the Disney Research Lab is just a few steps away from the Institute of Visual Computing of the ETH (Swiss Federal Institute of Technology) Zurich. The staircase is apple green. Each room has its own theme and colour, derived from different Disney Classics movies. In one, two young scientists are unpacking a huge picture from 101 Dalmatians.

Disney people regularly arrive from California for short stays, and there is a daily exchange of unique data from the Disney archives streaming back and forth between Zurich and Los Angeles. They have just recently completed collaboration on the new Disney film The Princess and the Frog (pictured left), to be released this Christmas.

Professor Markus Gross, former head of the Institute of Computational Science, is the new director of Disney Research Zurich. It is no doubt exciting to work with the world's leading entertainment company--and he's the first to admit it. A Disney fan from his early youth and a first-class computer scientist, his travels led him time and again to the Disney Studios in California. There, he built up a personal relationship with Disney managers who realised--especially after the acquisition of Pixar Animation Studios in 2006--there was an increasing need for advanced technology at Walt Disney Studios.

Pixar's 3-D animated movies like Toy Story cannot, precisely because of their complexity, be created without the high-tech expertise of computer scientists. And according to Gross, the benefits are mutual. The diversity the Disney conglomerate offers emerging computer scientists in terms of application options is stunning. From ESPN and sports channels, to movies and Disney theme parks: budding scientists get the chance to work on projects that will ultimately find their way to millions in a global audience.

Current development work is still classified, but former projects have included the film Monsters vs. Aliens from Steven Spielberg's DreamWorks Animation, where Gross' Lab of Computer Graphics worked on the animation for the explosion of the large spaceship at the end of the movie.

A free (scientific)lunch?

Does this mean Disney gets this high-tech student brain power for free? Not quite.

Disney Research Zurich is an independent legal entity, financed by Disney Switzerland and separate from the ETH. Yet students and staff can work for both the Disney Lab and the Institute of Visual Computing; those who do get paid on a 50/50 basis...

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