SWITZERLAND – Global technology company, Buhler Group has inaugurated its CUBIC innovation campus, featuring eight application centers at its headquarters in Uzwil, Switzerland.
The group has invested approximately US$49.9 million (CHF 50 million) in the new facility which aims to drive innovation, training and development of new and sustainable solutions.
The innovation campus looks to address issues such as sustainably feeding and providing mobility for a population of nearly 10 billion in 2050 with sustainable, commercially attractive solutions.
The three-storey Cubic unit is designed to accommodate up to 300 people, alongside eight application centres, including areas focused on chocolate, coffee, bakery, nutrition, grain and pasta.
According to Buhler, ideas of customers and prototypes are tested in the application centres, where they are refined up to the point of market maturity.
“We are with this driving forward our strategy of innovation, training, and development,” said Stefan Scheiber, chief executive officer of Bühler Group.
“Together with our customers, partners from industry and science, academia, and start-ups, we are using the CUBIC to conduct research into new and sustainable solutions that we can apply to successful business ventures.
“And, we are taking a step forward here in providing modern training and development.”
The building uses 15% less energy than comparable structures of its size and features an electrochromic glass facade, which enables energy consumption for heating and air conditioning to be slashed by as much as 50%.
It is also said to have been certified by Leed (Leadership in Energy and Environment Design), the most widely used green building rating system in the world.
The center links the development, engineering, and design teams with the modernized application centers and the factory, housing apprentices and academics, as well as youth and experience, said Buhler.
“The CUBIC campus will become the epicenter of our collaborative ecosystem,” said Ian Roberts, chief technology officer.
“It embodies our innovation spirit and culture, where we will inspire, discuss, understand, and derive actions that will support us as an industry to create more sustainable value chains, while contributing to addressing the burning environmental and societal challenges of our time.”
The CUBIC center includes Pasta Application Center, Grain Technology Center, Nutrition Application Center, Bakery Innovation Center, Chocolate Application Center, Coffee Application Center, Grinding & Dispersing Application Center as well as Die Casting Application Center.
