Disney Research celebrates Zurich jubilee

The Disney Research Lab in Zurich is the media corporation’s only research and development laboratory outside the USA. On Friday, it marks its 10-year anniversary, with the jubilee celebrations to be officially opened by Lino Guzzella, President of the Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich (ETH).

During the celebrations, Disney will showcase some of its best developments out of Zurich, including new technologies for the film industry, like the digital eyes that play out realistically in characters such as the Star Wars pirate Maz Kanata. The lab also created the faces of the fairies in the fantasy film “Maleficent” using Facial Motion Capture Technology – a tool that enabled the characteristics of the actors playing the fairies to be reflected in their digital counterparts.

The lab now plays host to more than 100 scientists, who are conducting research into the digital future of media and entertainment, according to the ETH. Around 20 ETH doctoral students are also involved, with Markus Gross, head of the Disney Research Lab in Zurich, once explaining in an interview with "Unternehmerzeitung” that one of the main reasons Disney opted for Zurich as the location for its new lab in 2008 was the proximity to the ETH.

Disney Research Lab’s jubilee celebrations coincide with the “Informatiktage” at the ETH on June 1 and 2, during which companies, startups, universities and other hosts based in the Zurich economic area will open their doors and offer an insight into the world of computer science.