Receiving the Tell Award is a mark of recognition to the Los Angeles-based company for successfully launching operations of its Disney Research Centre in the Greater Zurich Area in collaboration with the ETH Zurich.

Strategic partnership

The DRZ was officially launched at ETH Zurich at the end of April 2010. Approximately 30 computer scientists and 10 PhD students are jointly developing new algorithms for applications in the field of computer animation. For example, one of DRZ’s more than 30 different projects addresses capturing and animating extremely realistic representations of human faces for use by Disney’s animation studios, game divisions, and theme parks. Dr. Robert Sumner, Associate Director of DRZ, declares: “European scientists have always been notable for innovation and creativity in the computer graphics sector. This is particularly true for the vibrant ICT scene in the Greater Zurich Area and was an important factor for Disney to partner with the ETH Zurich.” For Markus Gross, Director DRZ and Professor of Computer Science at ETH Zurich, the award points out the importance of ETH Zurich’s strategic industrial partnerships: “We are very pleased and honored to be presented with the Tell Award for innovation and technology investment. The cooperation between Disney and ETH Zurich is quite unique in Europe and has already earned a reputation as one of the world’s leading innovation laboratories for computer animation. We are on a par with several of ETH Zurich’s strategic industrial partnerships, such as the IBM Research Lab in Rüschlikon.”

Significant investment project

DRZ will be presented with the Tell Award by the new Ambassador of Switzerland at the Tell Awards Ceremony and Gala, on November 8^th 2010, at the Swiss Embassy in Washington DC. Named after the national hero Wilhelm Tell, the Tell Awards are an annual celebration of Switzerland’s most significant inward investment projects by North American firms organized by the Swiss Trade and Investment Promotion (STIP). Past winners for the Greater Zurich Area have included illustrious companies such as IBM, Microsoft, and Google.

About DRZ

Disney Research Zurich (DRZ) is the only research lab that Disney operates in Europe. It is perfectly placed for easy access to ETH Zurich, one of the world’s leading technical universities. With strong ties to the Computer Graphics Lab at ETH Zurich, the Zurich lab is influencing video of the future (video manipulation, video coding, 3D, and perceptual studies), computational cinematography, human and facial animation, and capture technologies. Additional strengths include wireless networking and computational materials. DRZ computer scientists work in collaboration with various business units of The Walt Disney Company to devise new technologies for tomorrow’s entertainment industry.