The Swiss Center of Applied Underground Technologies (SCAUT) stands for the innovative use of the underground. With engineering, state-of-the-art ICT and innovative concepts, it contributes significantly to the creation of the underground spaces of the future. With one of these concepts the competence center even won an ITA-AITES Tunnelling Award. As SCAUT's industrial partner, we review 2019 with pride and look forward to further innovations for the future. 

Klaus Wachter, Managing Director of SCAUT at the handover of the ITA-AITES Tunnelling Award.

Tension was in the air when the tunnel community met for the big gala dinner in Miami in November 2019. The presentation of the ITA-AITES Tunnelling Awards was imminent. For the first time, SCAUT was nominated in the category "Innovative Underground Space Concept of the Year". The submitted concept "Underground Green Farming" convinced the jury and SCAUT received the coveted award. 

The innovative Aquaponic prototype, initiated in spring 2019, combines the sustainable, underground cultivation of fish and salad. The main objective of the project is to overcome the food shortage by using existing underground spaces. Learn more about the winning concept here.
 

The prototype of the prefabricated plug-in cross-cut element in the Hagerbach Test Gallery.

SCAUT's projects also aroused the interest of the media. The magazine GeoResources recently published an interview with Klaus Wachter, Managing Director of SCAUT. The magazine also published a detailed article on another successful SCAUT project, the prefabricated plug-in cross-cut element. For this unique system, SCAUT gathered a versatile and experienced industrial consortium around itself, which could achieve significant time and cost savings as well as solving a logistical problem of many tunnel construction sites with the final product. 

Read the whole article (from page 23).
 

Large amounts of data efficiently processed on-site – that's the underground data centre.

In autumn 2019, the focus was on two more innovative concepts. In the Hagerbach Test Gallery, the prototype of a modular data centre developed for underground placement was presented. The aim of "Edge Computing – Underground!" is to use underground spaces for edge data centres in order to save limited and expensive room on the surface and reduce energy consumption.

Shortly afterwards, the "Tunnel Digitalisation Center" was opened at the same site. It offers the unique opportunity to experience the interaction and transformation from real to digital live in the tunnel. New technologies and innovative concepts can thus be demonstrated on a scale of 1:1.