SKACH – The SKA Switzerland Consortium

What SKACH – The SKA Switzerland Consortium does

SKACH – The SKA Switzerland Consortium is a non-profit research consortium established to coordinate Switzerland's contributions to the international Square Kilometre Array Observatory (SKAO), an intergovernmental organization building the world's largest radio telescopes in South Africa (SKA-Mid) and Australia (SKA-Low). Switzerland became the eighth SKAO member state on January 19, 2022. SKACH federates ten Swiss academic institutions — EPFL (which hosts the secretariat in Lausanne), ETH Zurich, FHNW, UZH, ZHAW, the University of Basel, the University of Geneva, HES-SO, CSCS, and ISSI Bern — across five programs: Science, Data Science, Computing Platforms and Infrastructure, Instrumentation, and Education and Public Outreach. The consortium is funded by the Swiss State Secretariat for Education, Research and Innovation (SERI), which committed 33.6 million CHF for the 2021–2030 period.

The consortium's technical portfolio centers on radio astronomy data processing, HPC-enabled astrophysical simulation, and AI/ML for astronomical signal and image analysis. Core proprietary assets include the SPH-EXA exascale hydrodynamics code, the TABASCAL Bayesian algorithm for satellite radio-frequency interference subtraction, generative diffusion-model pipelines for mock-observation synthesis, and the Swiss SKA Regional Centre (SRC) hosted at CSCS, which connects Swiss researchers to the global SRCnet handling ~600–707 petabytes of SKAO data per year. SKACH scientists were awarded the largest-ever allocation on Europe's LUMI-G supercomputer (5.5 million node hours) and achieved a top-10 finish in the SKAO Science Data Challenge 3a.

SKACH has no commercial revenue model; it does not sell products or services, and pricing is not applicable. Its "customers" are the Swiss and global research communities, which gain access to SKAO data, supercomputing resources, and Swiss industry subcontracts (HUBER & SUHNER, Cosylab, Safran Electronics & Defense, MECHA AG, T4Science). GTM motion is community-led via academic partnerships, conferences (Swiss SKA Days, Cosmology in the Alps), the French-language Radio Cosmos podcast, social media, and EPFL-hosted public exhibitions.

Name

SKACH – The SKA Switzerland Consortium

Legal name

SKACH Consortium

Website

https://skach.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

2022

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

SKACH is a non-profit Swiss consortium of ten academic institutions, hosted at EPFL, that coordinates Switzerland's contributions to the international Square Kilometre Array Observatory, providing Swiss researchers and industry with access to radio-astronomy data, HPC, and AI/ML tooling for astrophysics research.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Headquarters

HQ city

Lausanne

HQ country

Switzerland

HQ region

Europe

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Technology or R&D, Infrastructure, Operations, Marketing or Sales

Revenue model

1. Government Funding: Switzerland committed 33.6 million CHF for the period 2021-2030 towards construction and early operation of the SKA telescopes. Funding is managed through SERI (State Secretariat for Education, Research, and Innovation).

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels8 records

Core offering

SKACH coordinates Switzerland's contributions to the international Square Kilometre Array Observatory (SKAO), which is building the world's two largest radio telescopes (SKA-Mid in South Africa and SKA-Low in Australia). The consortium delivers research, computing infrastructure, data analysis pipelines, instrumentation, and public outreach across ten Swiss academic institutions, providing Swiss researchers with access to approximately 650 petabytes of radio astronomy data per year.

Product overview

SKACH (Square Kilometre Array Switzerland Consortium) is a national consortium of ten Swiss institutions coordinating Switzerland's contributions to the Square Kilometre Array Observatory (SKAO). SKACH delivers contributions across five key programs: Science, Data Science, Computing Platforms and Infrastructure, Instrumentation, and Education and Public Outreach. The core offerings include the SKA radio telescope systems (SKA-Mid and SKA-Low), the Swiss SKA Regional Centre for data distribution and analysis, the SPH-EXA supercomputing simulation project for astrophysics, Science Data Challenges for testing data processing pipelines, the Radio Cosmos educational podcast, and AI/ML tools including generative deep learning for mock-observations and the TABASCAL algorithm for satellite interference mitigation.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Swiss SKA Regional Centre (SRC) Data centre service providing Swiss scientists with access to approximately 650 petabytes per year of SKA telescope data for analysis, simulation processing, and distribution through the international SRCnet network. Hosted at the Swiss National Supercomputing Centre (CSCS).
• SPH-EXA Simulation Project A hydrodynamics code project simulating the behavior of fluids and plasmas for astrophysical processes including star formation, galaxy evolution, turbulence, and protostellar core formation, optimized to run on exascale supercomputers such as CSCS Alps and Europe's LUMI-G.
• TABASCAL Algorithm Trajectory-Based Subtraction and Calibration algorithm that models and removes satellite radio frequency interference from astronomical observations using Bayesian probabilistic methods, addressing interference thousands of times stronger than astrophysical sources.
• Generative Deep Learning for Mock-Observations

Quantifiable outcome

• 10th place in SKAO Science Data Challenge 3a analyzing 7.5 TB astronomical data
• +1 more outcomes

Named customers2 records

Segments2 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

AI capability6 records

Feature5 records

Partnerships

18 partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• SKAO (Square Kilometre Array Observatory)coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 19 January 2022SKACH leads Switzerland's contributions to the international SKA Observatory. Switzerland became the eighth country to join the intergovernmental organization on January 19, 2022. The SKAO is building the world's largest radio telescopes in Australia and South Africa.
• SERI (State Secretariat for Education, Research, and Innovation)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerSwiss government body providing funding and mandate for Switzerland's participation in SKAO. SKACH operates with support from SERI.
• EPFL (École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerHost institution for SKACH Secretariat. EPFL coordinates Swiss contributions to SKA on behalf of the Swiss academic community. Professor Jean-Paul Kneib serves as Swiss Scientific Delegate to SKAO Council.
• CSCS (Swiss National Supercomputing Centre)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCSCS contributes HPC infrastructure ('Alps') and expertise to SKACH, providing supercomputing capabilities for SKA data processing and simulations. Pablo Fernandez represents CSCS on SKACH Board.
• ETH Zurich (Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule Zürich)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerOne of ten member institutions of SKACH consortium contributing to science, data science, computing, instrumentation, and education programs.
• FHNW (Fachhochschule Nordwestschweiz)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerSKACH member contributing to digital twin development for SKA telescope and SKA Regional Centre team management.
• UZH (Universität Zürich)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerSKACH member institution contributing to astrophysics research and simulations including SPH-EXA project.
• ZHAW (Zürcher Hochschule für Angewandte Wissenschaften)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerSKACH member contributing AI and machine learning expertise including generative deep learning for mock-observations project.
• University of BaselcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerSKACH member hosting sciCORE supercomputing centre. Contributors to SPH-EXA project and HPC research.
• University of GenevacoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerSKACH member contributing to astrophysics research including extragalactic continuum studies and machine learning applications.
• HES-SO (Haute École spécialisée de Suisse Occidentale)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerSKACH member institution representing Swiss romande higher education in the consortium.
• ISSI Bern (International Space Science Institute)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerSKACH member contributing to international space science research coordination.
• HUBER & SUHNERminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerSwiss company (Herisau) awarded multi-year sub-contract by Sirio Antenne to supply Coax connector and cable solutions (150,000+ assemblies) for SKA-Low telescope in Australia.
• CosylabminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerSwiss company (Zurich) providing control systems for SKA telescopes' Observatory Management Control software, similar to work for CERN.
• Safran Electronics & Defense (Neuchatel)minorStrategic or Co-development PartnerSwiss company delivering state-of-the-art atomic clocks (hydrogen MASERS, iM3000 model) for SKAO sites in South Africa and Australia.
• MECHA AGminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerSwiss mechanical engineering company (Bern) producing 2,000 fine machined mechanical parts for SKA Mid Band horn antennas.
• T4ScienceminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerSwiss company providing iM3000 SAFRAN Active Hydrogen MASER clock systems to SKAO for precision timing.
• EcoCloud (EPFL)minorStrategic or Co-development PartnerResearch collaboration exploring energy-efficient data processing methods for SKA's massive data streams using heterogeneous computing.

Scale indicators7 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Regional players

• Max Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy (MPIfR): Major German radio astronomy research institute coordinating German SKA contributions. Comparable in scientific mission and as a national coordination node, though based in Germany rather than Switzerland.

Broad incumbents

• CERN (European Organization for Nuclear Research): The archetypal multi-country intergovernmental mega-science organization. While focused on particle physics rather than radio astronomy, it is often invoked as the institutional scale-model for SKAO/SKACH collaborations and shares similar Swiss industry participation dynamics.
• NRAO (National Radio Astronomy Observatory): US national radio astronomy facility operating the VLA and coordinating US SKA contributions through the ngVLA project. Comparable as a national radio astronomy research organization.
• ESO (European Southern Observatory): Intergovernmental organization operating large optical/millimeter observatories with Switzerland as a member state. Comparable in scale and as a coordinating body pooling national contributions to large-scale astronomy infrastructure.
• STFC (UK Research and Innovation — Science and Technology Facilities Council): UK funding body that coordinates the UK's significant SKA contributions and broader radio astronomy portfolio through Jodrell Bank. Comparable as a national funding/coordinating layer for SKAO participation.
• INAF (Istituto Nazionale di Astrofisica): Italian national astrophysics research institute coordinating Italian scientific contributions to SKAO and operating radio observatories. Similar in function and scope to SKACH.

Direct peers

• SARAO (South African Radio Astronomy Observatory): Host agency for SKA-Mid and a national SKA coordinating body. Comparable as a publicly-funded radio astronomy consortium coordinating a country's contributions to SKAO.
• Square Kilometre Array Observatory (SKAO): The intergovernmental organization building the SKA-Mid and SKA-Low telescopes, of which SKACH is the Swiss coordinating consortium. Operates at the same astronomical scale and shares governance, data, and scientific priorities.
• ASTRON (Netherlands Institute for Radio Astronomy): Operates LOFAR and other radio astronomy facilities, and coordinates Dutch SKA contributions. Closely matches SKACH's role of combining national radio astronomy coordination with data center / HPC responsibilities.
• CSIRO (Australian SKA Office / Astronomy and Space Science): Australian government agency coordinating Australia's contributions to SKA-Low and operating related radio astronomy infrastructure. Direct counterpart to SKACH as a national SKA host/consortium body.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xbsky.app/profile/skach.org
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/skach
• Instagraminstagram.com/skaswitzerland

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles4 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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M&A

Investments

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Frequently asked questions about SKACH – The SKA Switzerland Consortium