Benefits of participating in this research of the Swiss Polytechnic Institute of Lausanne (EPFL)


One main barrier for process innovation into SMEs is the lack time to look for optimisations and test solutions.
However, with the rise of all those trendy applications based on the cloud, potential of improvements is real.
Through this research, we hope to create an environment where students could help organizations to accelerate their pace by improving their awareness.
We are not setting up or rolling out solutions. We only provide you support into the research of waste, the creation of ideas, and the test of solutions.
Here, the six key points that sum up our vision about what we would like to do with you:

Convenient

Answer anonymously 10 questions to describe your structure and your project.

Support

Get support from EPFL students to look for ideas and design prototypes.

Light

Watch short videos presenting tailormade solutions and test the best one by sharing your screen with a student.

Creative

Allow a community of student to bring a fresh view about your job. Try the latest trendy apps to stay updated.

Collaborative

Share ideas, tutorials, best practices to bring everyone in your digital journey.

Free

Participating in this research is free. Your identity remains confidential.


So, are you interested in collaborating with us? We invite you to take a few of you time to fill this online form below :

How are our projects going?
We seek, show, train, and seek again!

The main goal of this platform is fostering reflexion and creating awareness about opportunities offering by new technology.
See below the 12 weeks phases that our students will follow to work on your idea/problem :


  1. You fill this form to submit a project.

  2. Your project starts in Mars or October with a student. You schedule a first video call.

  3. You meet the student and he will ask you more details about your project.

  4. The student looks for solutions, tests them and picks two. He makes one presentation video for each solution.

  5. You watch the video and schedule a second video call.

  6. During this second meeting, you will redefine your needs and tests yourself the solution.

  7. The student continues his reasearch, either by looking for another solution, or by going deeper in the one selected.


  1. A new video is made with a stronger focus on how to use the solution everyday. A third video call is planned.

  2. This time, the student and you will focus on the impact of this solution on your daily processes. You will improve the design of the solution.

  3. The student will realise a last video focusing on how to integrate this solution into your company.

  4. A last time, you evaluate the video and schedule a video call.

  5. For this last online meeting, you will try to point out all the barriers and risks to adopt this solution.

  6. To conclude this project, the student writes a report about your solution, its impacts and risks.

What is our job?
Seek, Present, and Coach!

We are not experts but we love testing new apps and working on how they might help you!
Here are some projects with a few organizations:

  1. We are working with building firms on using Trello and KissFlow to ensure orders tracking.
  2. We are testing solutions such as Asana and Wimi with service firms to improve project management.
  3. We are supporting an NGO in spreading AppSheet and Google Apps to their partners in developing countries for data collection.
  4. We are helping consulting firms to set up portal clients with Sharepoint and Office 365°
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Why this research?
Because of six beliefs.

I decided to lead this research based on the following reasons:

  1. One root cause of slow digital transformation is the lack of knowledge.
  2. Another one is weak capabilities to manage and foster digital transformation.
  3. The gap between the academic world and the real one.
  4. Relationship is the key for learning.
  5. EPFL students can bring a new fresh view to routines.
  6. Collaborators are more willing to share their feelings with students than experts.
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Therefore, this research aims to connect EPFL students to organisations for helping each other to develop their human and digital skills.

The PhD student Quentin Cavillier (see my profil) is leading this research under the supervision of the Professor Wieser for the Logistics, Economy and Management chair of the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne.

This platform is introduced to Master students from EPFL and they can obtain credits for their participation, either by doing semester projects, or during a Master course called "Project management and Risk analysis".

Terms and Conditions

Below are conditions to accept before submitting a new project on the platform.

  • Conversations with students registered in your project are confidential.
  • I agree that information and behaviors are recorded in an anonymous way for an Academic research.
  • Videos and models made by students are open access to foster knowledge sharing on the platform.
  • I allocate enough time (max 30 mins per week) to answer students questions and evaluate their solutions. Students are working 5 hours/week on the project.
  • I agree that either students or EPFL are not responsible for problems encountered while implementing or using solutions presented on the platform.
  • Opinions and suggestions are made by students and EPFL can not be held responsible for them.

Why contact us?
Why not?



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Wishing you a nice digital journey!
Quentin Cavillier