The collaboration with Synhelion has made Airport Zurich a pioneer in solar fuel. The ETH Zurich spinoff produces sustainable solar fuels and is currently commercializing the Sun-to-Liquid technology. In June 2024, the company inaugurated DAWN, the world’s first industrial plant to produce solar fuel in Jülich, Germany. RISE, Synhelion’s first commercial production plant, is located in Spain and is scheduled to produce fuels from 2027. Following four years of working together, Synhelion has signed a five-year solar fuel offtake agreement with Zurich Airport Ltd to deliver 30’000 liters of solar diesel to the airport every year, starting in 2027. This fuel will be produced from RISE. The plant uses solar energy to produce sustainable fuels that are fully compatible with the existing global fuel infrastructure and conventional internal combustion engines and aircraft engines. Synhelion’s solar fuels cut net CO2 emissions by up to 99% compared to fossil fuels.
Enerdrape and CIEC to meet energy performance of buildings in France
Enerdrape, the EPFL spinoff developing the world's first prefabricated geothermal panel technology to transform underground infrastructures into renewable energy sources, has partner with CIEC, a subsidiary of ENGIE Solutions and a key player in providing innovative energy solutions to its customers to meet the challenges of decarbonization in France. With this partnership, CIEC becomes the official integrator of the Enerdrape solution. As part of this partnership, about 130 Enerdrape geothermal panels will be installed in the 11th arrondissement of Paris, fostering a sustainable production of 40 MWh/year, generating 23 kW of thermal power.
xFarm to digitalise farming in France
Xfarm is a Swiss Italian startup dedicated to digitalising the agri-food sector through its xFarm digital platform, a comprehensive digital agriculture platform that streamlines farm management through integrated tools, sensors, and data-driven insights. This enables farmers to optimize operations and enhance productivity across various agricultural practices. This technology will be key in the geospatial AI project for crop detection in France, an initiative that has been created in partnership with Sygenta France. The project aims to support farmers in France by further improving Quali'Cible, a decision support system (DSS) developed by Syngenta France that gives them information on whether they can use a specific product in each field when non-target crops are grown nearby. This will be done thanks to xFarm’s sophisticated Geospatial AI tools, which can detect non-target crops from satellite imagery.
Haelixa and C&A advance traceability of organic cotton
The partnership between Swiss startup Haelixa and C&A, one of Europe’s leading fashion retailers, began in 2022 with a pilot project, and since then, they have continuously worked together to trace raw materials. The companies have extended their partnership to the next three years. Using Haelixa’s DNA markers, C&A will trace the journey of its organic cotton from farm to finished garment.
The DNA marker is used to create a tamper-proof, verifiable traceability that tracks organic cotton throughout the supply chain. The cotton, sourced through CottonConnect, is marked with unique DNA, which acts as a specific identifier. Once applied, the cotton is tested throughout the supply chain to verify the material using forensic PCR tests. Traceability with the fiber-forward approach ensures the final garment materials are authentic. The partnership stems from C&A’s commitment to working with others in the apparel industry to pilot and scale innovation.
(Press release/RAN)