École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne in the context of "Geneva Observatory"

ETH Zurich (German: Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule Zürich; English: Federal Institute of Technology Zurich) is a public university in Zurich, Switzerland. Founded in 1854, the university primarily teaches and conducts research in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM).

Like its sister institution École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), ETH Zurich is part of the Swiss Federal Institutes of Technology Domain, a consortium of universities and research institutes under the Swiss Federal Department of Economic Affairs, Education and Research. As of 2023, ETH Zurich enrolled 25,380 students from over 120 countries, of which 4,425 were pursuing doctoral degrees.

The University of Lausanne (UNIL; French: Université de Lausanne) in Lausanne, Switzerland, was founded in 1537 as a school of Protestant theology, before being made a university in 1890. The university is the second-oldest in Switzerland, and one of the oldest universities in the world to be in continuous operation. As of fall 2017, about 15,000 students and 3,300 employees studied and worked at the university. Approximately 1,500 international students attend the university (120 nationalities), which has a wide curriculum including exchange programs with other universities.

Together with the École polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) the university forms a vast campus at the shores of Lake Geneva.

The Eindhoven University of Technology (Dutch: Technische Universiteit Eindhoven; TU/e) is a public technical university in the Netherlands, situated in Eindhoven. In 2020–21, around 14,000 students were enrolled in its BSc and MSc programs and around 1350 students were enrolled in its PhD and EngD programs. In 2021, the TU/e employed around 3900 people.

TU/e is the Dutch member of the EuroTech Universities Alliance, a partnership of European universities of science & technology. The other members are Technical University of Denmark (DTU), École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), École Polytechnique (L’X), The Technion, and Technical University of Munich (TUM).

The Domain of the Swiss Federal Institutes of Technology (ETH Domain, German: ETH-Bereich, French: Domaine des Écoles polytechniques fédérales) is a union of Swiss governmental universities and research institutions. It primarily consists of the following institutions:

• Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich (ETHZ)
• Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne (EPFL)

• Paul Scherrer Institute (PSI)
• Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Science and Technology (Empa)
• Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology (Eawag)
• Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research (WSL)

• CCEM (Energy & Mobility)
• CCES (Environment & Sustainability)
• CCMX (Materials Science & Technology)
• NCCBI (Biomedical Imaging)

École Centrale Paris (French pronunciation: [ekɔl sɑ̃tʁal paʁi], ECP; also known as École Centrale or Centrale) was a French grande école in engineering and science. It was also known by its official name École Centrale des Arts et Manufactures. In 2015, École Centrale Paris merged with Supélec to form CentraleSupélec, a constituent college of the University of Paris-Saclay.

Founded in 1829, it was among the most prestigious and selective grandes écoles. Rooted in rich entrepreneurial tradition since the industrial revolution era, it served as the cradle for top-level engineers and executives who continue to constitute a major part of the industry leadership in France. Since the 19th century, its model of education for training generalist engineers inspired the establishment of several engineering institutes around the world, such as the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne in Switzerland, Faculté polytechnique de Mons in Belgium, as well as other member schools of the Ecole Centrales Group alliance in France, Morocco, China, and India.

The Blue Brain Project was a Swiss brain research initiative that aimed to create a digital reconstruction of the mouse brain. The project was founded in May 2005 by the Brain Mind Institute of École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) in Switzerland. The project ended in December 2024. Its mission was to use biologically detailed digital reconstructions and simulations of the mammalian brain to identify the fundamental principles of brain structure and function.

The project was headed by the founding director Henry Markram—who also launched the European Human Brain Project—and was co-directed by Felix Schürmann, Adriana Salvatore and Sean Hill. Using a Blue Gene supercomputer running Michael Hines's NEURON, the simulation involved a biologically realistic model of neurons and an empirically reconstructed model connectome.