Federal Councillor Guy Parmelin, who as the new head of the  The Federal Department of Economic Affairs, Education and Research (EAER) is also responsible for the ETH Domain, welcomed some 60 guests to the WSL Institute for Snow and Avalanche Research (SLF). Researchers from ETH, EPFL, the Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research (WSL), the Paul Scherrer Institute (PSI), the Eawag Water Research Institute and Empa then presented projects from their research.

Tanja Zimmermann, member of Empa's directorate and head of the department Functional Materials department, brought along a special violin: Modified Swiss sycamore maple, which offers the characteristics of ebony - sustainable and completely legal. In the future, this should not only prevent overexploitation in the tropics, but also increase the value of the renewable Swiss raw material.