Building bridges between research and industry

Organized, neat, tasteful: Matthias Sulzer's office reveals a visual thinker. A hand-drawn poster shows the steps of strategy development: A road winds its way up a mountain, with signposts marking the crucial milestones. "I like to sketch out problems, also as a basis for discussion," says the researcher and engineer. Discussions and meetings are an everyday occurrence in his new role: Sulzer has been head of Empa's Department of Engineering Sciences since January 1, 2025.

His path to this position was just as winding as the metaphorical road on the poster in his office. Sulzer first came into contact with Empa exactly 30 years earlier, while working on his Bachelor's thesis. "It was about the thermal modeling of heat storage systems," he recalls. Research into energy systems would accompany Sulzer throughout his rather atypical career – although for a long time his main focus was not on the academic world.

Even as a boy, Sulzer was the hands-on type. His father, also an engineer, instilled in his son a love of mathematics and technology. Sulzer completed an apprenticeship as a ventilation planner and then enrolled at a university of applied sciences to study engineering, encouraged by his vocational trainer. The joy of learning, combined with his entrepreneurial streak, subsequently led him to the University of New South Wales in Australia for a Master's degree in Business Administration (MBA) with a specialization in Energy Economics.

"At the time, Australia was at the forefront of the renewable energy sector and the university was very international," Sulzer recalls. These experiences shaped him when, shortly afterwards, he founded a company with two partners. What began as a traditional building technology business quickly developed into a pioneering company in the field of energy systems under his leadership. His formula for success: research. At the same time as founding the company, Sulzer was awarded a research contract at the Lucerne School of Engineering and Architecture.

Thanks to this dual role, he was able to bridge the gap in both directions: Innovative solutions and applied research went hand in hand. Novel district heating networks, hydraulic systems for hydroelectric power plants, facilities for the chemical industry – as CEO, Sulzer was happy to take on a wide variety of challenges. Prominent projects followed, including the anergy network at the ETH Hönggerberg campus and the development, planning and construction of the building technology for the high-altitude Monte Rosa hut.

In 2017, his career path took its next turn: Together with his partners, Sulzer took the company public and decided to focus entirely on research – at Empa. He joined Empa's Urban Energy Systems Lab as a senior researcher and took over the management of the cross-institutional Swiss Competence Center for Energy Research: Future Energy Efficient Buildings and Districts (SCCER FEEB&D).

The industry veteran quickly felt at home in the academic environment. "Empa combines excellent research with knowledge transfer to industry," he says – a bridge after his own heart, which beats for both research and engineering.

To prepare his department, Empa, and the Swiss research landscape as a whole for the future, Matthias Sulzer believes one thing is needed above all: people. "Our most important task is to train the next generation of researchers," he says. He sees his role as an enabler of scientific excellence: "I want to create spaces that offer researchers optimal conditions for their work," he says. For him, this also includes interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary collaboration, known as team science. "The traditional academic career path trains researchers to achieve individual excellence," says Sulzer. "That is important and the right thing to do. My aim is to then integrate these excellent researchers into a team in such a way that 1 + 1 doesn't just equal 2, but 3 – a real added value. This is particularly true in interdisciplinary projects, such as the development of biocompatible materials for medical implants, where collaboration between engineers, materials scientists and medtech experts leads to innovative solutions."

He sees putting together and leading effective teams as the greatest challenge and the common thread running through his own career. For him, leadership is not just a matter of talent: Even more important are the right skillset and experience, which Sulzer symbolizes as a kind of leadership keyboard that, over time, acquires more and more playable keys.

However, the department head does not spend his free time playing the piano, but rather climbing – preferably in the great outdoors – and sailing on the Mediterranean. Since his grown-up children have moved out, the family man also enjoys spending time with his wife. To balance out his demanding job as Head of Department, Sulzer has also reserved a small space for research: at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in the US, which he visits once a year as a visiting scientist. Here, too, the engineer cannot help but build bridges: "The Energy Technology Area at the Berkeley Lab has a similar focus as the Engineering Sciences department at Empa – this leads to a very fruitful exchange," he says.

Matthias Sulzer studied building technology at Lucerne School of Engineering and Architecture, followed by a Master's degree in Business Administration (MBA) with a specialization in Energy Economics at the University of New South Wales in Sydney, Australia. On his return to Switzerland, he and two partners founded a group of companies in the energy and building technology sector, which they successfully took public. He worked part-time at the Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts, where he was involved in various research projects and obtained the title of professor. In 2017, Sulzer joined Empa's Urban Energy System Laboratory as a senior scientist. He has headed Empa's Department of Engineering Sciences since January 2025.