Switzerland-Korea exchange students test solutions for seniors

Say KimCheese! Participants pose with a 'finger heart' gesture popular in Korean culture © KIMCHEESE - The recently completed first edition of the KimCheese program challenged students from Switzerland and Korea to design solutions to everyday obstacles faced by senior citizens in both countries. The KimCheese program is led by College of Humanities (CDH) lecturer Marc Laperrouza, who also initiated the China Hardware Innovation Camp ( CHIC ) and the India Switzerland Social Innovation Camp ( INSSINC ). He notes that the new KimCheese program now gives EPFL participants the chance to work with faculty and students from local university partners - in this case, the Korea Advanced Institute of Science & Technology (KAIST) and Hongik University. In addition to developing, prototyping, and testing sustainable solutions, the KimCheese program focuses on aiding the elderly, thanks to the expertise of KAIST professor of gerontology Moon Jeong Choi and Hongik University professor of design Sook Yeon Kim. On the Swiss side, participants came from the CDH Social and Human Sciences program course Design for Sustainability , forming teams of engineers as well as industrial design students from the École cantonale d'art de Lausanne (écal). Sooda vending machine prototype © KIMCHEESE - "There is a real intellectual symmetry in the program, not only because of the participating institutions, but because both Switzerland and Korea are small, affluent countries with aging populations and an interest in devoting resources to studying these issues," Laperrouza says.