The Swiss Plasma Center

What The Swiss Plasma Center does

The Swiss Plasma Center is a plasma physics research facility operating within the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), one of Europe's most prominent science and technology institutions headquartered in Lausanne, Switzerland. As a research unit within EPFL's ecosystem of more than 500 laboratories and research groups serving over 15,000 students across Bachelor, Master, and Doctorate levels, the Center is embedded in an institution structured around three missions: education, research, and innovation, organized across five schools and one college. EPFL operates additional associated campuses including the Microcity site in Neuchâtel, with the institution welcoming collaborators from more than 120 nationalities and over 39,000 alumni scattered across nearly 80 countries.

EPFL's underlying technology platform — including the EPFL Graph, a network of interconnected academic data, and AI-powered institutional analytics that transform unstructured text, networks, and surveys into semantic analyses and research landscape mapping — provides shared research infrastructure available to units such as the Swiss Plasma Center. The institution funds its operations through Swiss federal government allocations, European research programs, industry collaborations, regulated tuition, and a technology-transfer pipeline that converts frontier research into startups and licensing arrangements. AI is applied within the institutional data and analytics function to support grant-recommendation workflows and open academic data initiatives including SOAD (Swiss Open Academic Data Network) and BenchTech.

No specific commercial products, services, customers, or revenue streams are documented for the Swiss Plasma Center as a distinct commercial offering in the available sources. The Center's activities operate within EPFL's public-mission framework, with no disclosed pricing, go-to-market motion, or product roadmap of its own. Data on management, funding rounds, M&A, regulatory actions, patents, and certifications for the Center is absent from the input; the Center's analytical profile is therefore framed by its parent institution's footprint and the absence of separately disclosed Center-specific operational data.

Name

The Swiss Plasma Center

Legal name

École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL)

Website

https://epfl.ch

Company type

Private

Founded year

1961

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

51–100 employees

Short description

The Swiss Plasma Center is a plasma physics research facility embedded within EPFL, Switzerland's federal technical university in Lausanne. It operates as one of EPFL's 500+ laboratories serving 15,000+ students and a 39,000+ alumni network, with no documented commercial product offerings.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Plasma Physics Research

NAICS

Colleges, Universities, and Professional Schools (611310), Research and Development in Biotechnology (except Nanobiotechnology) (541714)

SIC

Services-Commercial Physical & Biological Research (8731)

akta.pro primary industry

Public Research Universities with National Laboratories/Big Science Facilities (EDAHAAAJ)

akta.pro secondary industries

Biomedical Sciences & Medical Research Institutes (University-Based) (EDAHAGAI), Research Collaboration & Joint Labs (International Partnerships) (EDAIABAC)

Keywords

• Plasma physics research
• Fusion energy research
• Tokamak development
• Nuclear fusion science
• Plasma science facility

Headquarters

HQ city

Lausanne

HQ country

Switzerland

HQ region

Europe

Offices4 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Technology or R&D, Infrastructure, Operations

Revenue model

1. Research Funding: EPFL receives research funding from various sources including Swiss federal government, European research programs, and industry collaborations
2. Education Services: EPFL provides educational services at all levels from Bachelor to Doctorate and continuing education
3. Technology Transfer and Innovation: Transfer of knowledge, solutions and practical expertise to society through dialogue, outreach and innovation including startup creation in a vibrant ecosystem

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

The Swiss Plasma Center is a plasma physics research facility located at EPFL, conducting fundamental and mission-oriented research in plasma physics and fusion energy. It operates as a specialized research unit within EPFL's ecosystem of over 500 laboratories and research groups, contributing to the institution's three core missions of education, research, and innovation. The facility's research outputs support the broader scientific community and industry partners through publications, technology transfer, and collaboration.

Product overview

The Swiss Plasma Center is a plasma physics research facility located at EPFL (École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne). Based on the provided source data, no specific products or services are described for The Swiss Plasma Center as a distinct commercial or technology offering. The source data focuses on EPFL's institutional information rather than The Swiss Plasma Center specifically.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Quantifiable outcome

• 39,000+ alumni in nearly 80 countries
• +2 more outcomes

Named customers2 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature2 records

Partnerships

14 partnerships are on record, tiered minor and core.

• Wikimedia SwitzerlandminorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 August 2020Partnership for the Wikipedia-EPFL project to increase EPFL's representation on the free encyclopedia. Wikimedia Switzerland helped organize editathons and workshops on topics including science, women in science, diversity, and sustainability.
• Swiss Academy of Natural Sciences (SCNAT)minorStrategic or Co-development PartnerCollaborated with EPFL on the Wikipedia-EPFL project, specifically on sustainability-themed editathons and public science outreach.
• Science et CitéminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartnered with EPFL on the Wikipedia-EPFL project for science communication and public engagement initiatives.
• ETH Zurich Equal Opportunities and Diversity Office (Equal!)minorStrategic or Co-development PartnerCooperated with EPFL on diversity-themed editathons as part of the Wikipedia-EPFL project to improve representation of women in science.
• Swiss Open Government Data (OGD)minorStrategic or Co-development PartnerEPFL contributes to the Swiss Open Government Data strategy as part of its data governance and national coordination activities.
• Federal Statistical OfficeminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerEPFL aligns with broader standards and produces official reporting to the ETH Board in coordination with the Swiss Federal Statistical Office.
• OpenAlex Advisory BoardminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerEPFL Institutional Data and Analytics unit is a member of the OpenAlex advisory board, contributing to open academic data initiatives.
• SOAD (Swiss Open Academic Data Network)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerEPFL is the founder and leader of SOAD, the community for Swiss researchers and practitioners around open academic data.
• BenchTechminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerEPFL is founder and leader of BenchTech, an international network for technical university sharing of best practices in Institutional Research and Data Policy Making.
• CESAERminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerEPFL is a member of CESAER (Conference of European Schools for Advanced Engineering Education and Research).
• Fedestat (Swiss Statistics Network)minorStrategic or Co-development PartnerEPFL is a member of the Swiss Statistics Network (Fedestat) under the Federal Statistical Office.
• Center for Digital Education (CEDE)coreTechnology or IntegrationEPFL collaborates with CEDE to sponsor and support EPFL Graph, a tool offering holistic view of EPFL's activities through interconnected academic data.
• Business Intelligence (DSI-BI) UnitcoreTechnology or IntegrationEPFL's Institutional Data and Analytics unit collaborates closely with the Business Intelligence unit within EPFL's central services.
• Research Computing Platform (VPA-RCP)coreTechnology or IntegrationEPFL's Institutional Data and Analytics unit collaborates with the Research Computing Platform for advanced data processing and analytics.

Scale indicators4 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Direct peers

• Delft University of Technology (TU Delft): A leading European public technical university with comparable focus on engineering and applied sciences, similar institutional mission in technology transfer, and active industry-collaboration model — a strong regional peer.
• National University of Singapore (NUS): A leading Asian public research university with comparable global talent draw, strong industry-partnership orientation, and active innovation/venture ecosystem — a peer operating at similar institutional scale and ambition.
• ETH Zurich: The other Swiss federal technical university and EPFL's direct sister institution, sharing the same ETH Domain funding structure, similar federal mandate, research-intensive technical focus, and overlapping research areas including physics, engineering, and life sciences. The most directly comparable peer.
• KAIST: South Korea's leading public technical research university with a comparable three-mission model focused on science and engineering, similar scale, and active startup/tech-transfer ecosystem — comparable as a globally competitive Asian peer.
• Imperial College London: A leading European technical and research university with comparable focus on engineering, physical sciences, and medicine, plus an active industry-partnership and tech-transfer model — a peer European institution operating at a similar scale and mission profile.
• California Institute of Technology (Caltech): A small, highly focused research-intensive technical university with comparable emphasis on fundamental science, mission-oriented research, and tight faculty-student ratios — comparable to EPFL's research-culture and intensity profile.
• Technical University of Munich (TUM): Germany's leading public technical university, with a comparable three-mission model, active startup-creation ecosystem, and similar institutional scale in research output and student headcount — a direct continental European peer.
• Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT): A leading global public research university with the same three-mission model (education, research, innovation), large research-grant capture, active spinout ecosystem, and similar scale of student population and lab footprint — the canonical benchmark for institutions like EPFL.

Broad incumbents

• Stanford University: A larger, broader U.S. research institution that overlaps with EPFL across engineering, computer science, and physical sciences, and is the global benchmark for university-driven startup creation — relevant as a broader incumbent in the same space.
• Tsinghua University: China's flagship research university with substantial overlap with EPFL in engineering, physical sciences, and tech-transfer activity, and at larger scale — relevant as a broader global incumbent competing for talent and research partnerships.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat6 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/epfl_en
• YouTubeyoutube.com/user/epflnews
• Facebookfacebook.com/epflcampus
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/swiss-plasma-center-at-epfl
• Instagraminstagram.com/epflcampus

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds1 record

Investors1 record

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about The Swiss Plasma Center