BFH School of Engineering and Computer Science: 233 engineers and computer scientists honored at a graduation ceremony

In 2026, 233 students from the Bern University of Applied Sciences (BFH) Department of Engineering and Computer Science successfully completed their engineering or computer science programs. Last Friday, the graduates were honored and outstanding achievements were recognized at an awards ceremony.

213 students earned their Bachelor of Science degrees, and 20 earned their Master of Science degrees. In their theses, they tackled challenging problems from industry and business and developed innovative solutions, products, processes, or systems. This year, eight outstanding theses received special recognition. In addition to the two Styner Prizes and the RUAG Innovation Award, the «Most Creative Thesis Award» and the ETA Special Prize for the best thesis in the field of mechatronics and systems engineering were also presented. In addition, the winners of the Prix d’Excellence—which had already been presented on September 15 in Biel—were honored. With support from Ypsomed AG, the best thesis in the field of Medical Informatics was also recognized, while the Swiss Engineering Association (STV) honored the best thesis in the field of Electrical Engineering and Information Technology. In the field of Industrial Engineering, the best thesis was awarded a prize from watch manufacturer Christopher Ward.

Styner Prize

This year, the Styner Foundation once again recognized two master’s theses that stood out for their high degree of innovation and potential for practical application in the business world. Elia Lenti won first prize of 10,000 Swiss francs for his thesis ’Investigation of AZCS Converter as a Solid-State Transformer.« The award winner explored a promising technology for the energy supply of the future. So-called solid-state transformers could complement or replace conventional transformers in the future and enable more efficient and flexible energy management. Kilian Schürch won the second prize of 5,000 Swiss francs for his work »Implementation of a Chatbot for Downtime Data Analysis Using Retrieval-Augmented Generation.’ In collaboration with Hoffmann Neopac AG, he investigated how so-called large language models (LLMs) can simplify access to production data. Industrial companies collect large amounts of data about their machines and production processes, but the targeted analysis of this data is often time-consuming and requires specialized expertise.

RUAG Innovation Award

Security and technological independence are issues that will continue to be of great importance in the future. The RUAG Innovation Award, worth CHF 1,000, recognizes innovative work by college graduates who address these challenges. In their work as part of the bachelor’s program in Electrical Engineering and Information Technology, Alain Wymann and Alex Tschumper developed a cost-effective system for determining the direction of radio signals. The system uses multiple antennas, whose signals are evaluated sequentially using a single receiver. The system can detect radio signals across a wide frequency range and has been successfully tested in a field trial.

«Most Creative Thesis Award»

The «Most Creative Thesis Award» is presented annually to recognize the most creative bachelor’s thesis in the Mechatronics and Systems Engineering program. With an innovative approach and high practical relevance, Jason Stanley impressed the jury with his bachelor’s thesis titled «Evaluation of Electrical Stimulation Patterns to Increase the Efficiency of Neuroprosthetic Drives.» It addresses the question of how people with spinal cord injuries can cycle more efficiently with the aid of electrical muscle stimulation. To this end, a new test system was developed for the BFH CybaTrike, which allows for the investigation of various forms and configurations of electrical stimulation. The tests show that performance can be significantly improved through more targeted muscle stimulation. The results lay an important foundation for future competitions such as the Cybathlon.

ETA Special Award: Best Thesis in the B.Sc. in Mechatronics and Systems Engineering Program

The ETA Special Prize for the best thesis in mechatronics and systems engineering was once again awarded this year in the form of a Hamilton watch. The winner, Alexandre Jogo, focused his bachelor’s thesis on how medical devices can be digitized in a simple and sustainable way. In his thesis, «Smartphone-Based Extraction of Autoinjector Data Using Machine Learning Methods,» he developed an application that uses a smartphone’s camera to capture information about autoinjectors—devices that allow users to administer medication easily and safely on their own. Among other things, the application detects whether a device has already been used and reads important information directly from the device. This could eliminate the need for additional electronics in the disposable device or for separate add-on modules in the future. Due to its innovation potential, a patentability analysis of an approach developed as part of the thesis was commissioned.

Prix d’Excellence

On September 15, 2026, the Biel Hospital Center awarded the Prix d’Excellence for the 13th time to six graduates of the BFH’s Bachelor’s program in Medical Informatics. The best theses in the categories of Innovation, Concept, and Implementation were honored with a prize totaling CHF 3,000. Susanne Kretschmar and Thomas Schüpbach were recognized in the Best Innovation category. The award for Best Concept went to Anisa Abukar and Joël Schaller, while Christoph Gsteu and Marius Krass were honored for Best Implementation.

Top Degrees in 2026

At the graduation ceremony, the department also recognized the top graduates at the bachelor’s and master’s levels, as well as the top graduate across all degree programs. The following students were honored in the Bachelor of Science program: Alexandre Clivaz (Automotive and Vehicle Engineering), Marc Rudolf Fuhrer (Data Engineering), Hannes Valentin Stalder (Electrical Engineering and Information Technology), Adrian Nathanael Riesen (Computer Science), Josia Micha Wenger (Mechanical Engineering), Thomas Schüpbach (Medical Informatics), Alexandre Jogo (Mechatronics and Systems Engineering), and Simon Aebi (Industrial Engineering). Kilian Stefan Schürch was honored for having the highest grade in the Master of Science in Engineering program and for achieving the highest overall grade in the Department of Engineering and Computer Science in 2026.

Source: Bern University of Applied Sciences (BFH)