Activities

Current activities

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• Associate Dean, COMEM+ Department, HEIG-VD, 100% since May 2024

• HES Professor, IHM, since July 2018

• Head of the “Users and Interfaces” research group at the Media Engineering Institute (MEI)

• Member of the Department Council, faculty representative

• Member of the Department Council, coordinator of the Integration axis

• Member of the Board of the Media Engineering Institute (MEI)

• Visiting professor at the Geneva School of Art and Design (HEAD) since 2015

• Co-founder and managing partner of Odoma Sàrl (www.odoma.ch)

 

Experience in R&D project management and team leadership

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• Operational management (>17 years) of BBStudio, a communications agency with 25 employees, sales >2.5 Mio. Ability to bring together engineers and designers on multidisciplinary projects.

• Project management in various professional contexts: large companies, start-ups, academia, culture, events, and associations at the Swiss and European levels.

• Since 2018, within Media Engineering Institute, direction of applied research projects involving scientific collaborators with varied profiles: CarbonViz, Durabilia, Museum XTD, Mental Work, DECLIC, V-Museum, Notre Histoire, KMap, and so on.

• Production manager for the following exhibitions: Museum XTD (2021); Mental Work (EPFL Artlab, 2017-18), Lift Conference (Geneva, Seoul, Marseille, 2006-2015); Salone Ludico (HEAD, 2016).

• 2014-2018: led the development of the user interface (UX) for the Venice Time Machine project, EPFL, directed by Prof. Kaplan.

 

Academic and teaching experiences

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• Creation of four teaching modules (2nd and 3rd year Bachelor) in media engineering: UX User Experience, UI Interface, UX Laboratory, Information Architecture, and Ergonomic Analysis.

• Design and implement the HCI Laboratory at HEIG-VD’s Saint-Roch site.

• Guest lecturer University of Berne – MAS ALIS (Archival, Library and Information Science) 

• Creating the “Startup Challenge Week” in 2020 brought together Media Engineering and Management Bachelor students in mixed groups—complete organisation and follow-up of the week and constitution of the jury.

• Since 2015: Guest lecturer at the Haute École d’Arts et Design de Genève, creating a specific “Industrial Design” course for Master’s Media Design students.

• 2016-2017 – EPFL/Head: introduction to design thinking and user experience, Master level.

• UX expert for Innokick Master

 

Development of partnerships

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• Pedagogical School-Vaud – DECLIC project

• University of Applied Sciences Fribourg – Durabilia project

• University of Arts and Design Geneva – reciprocal participation in juries (master, startup challenge week)

• Development of a network of external UX/UI experts for Bachelor’s work

• University of Applied Sciences Valais (2024) – Multidisciplinary pedagogical project

• University of Lausanne, through Professor Yannick Rochat and the EMOGARES project (SNSF Switzerland-Ukraine, submitted).

 

Communication skills and experiences
 

Design methodology for media products: 

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• UX / UI design of pioneering large-scale digital projects: Bibliothèque Nationale de France (2013-17); Venice Time Machine (2014-2018); Mental Work (2017-19); Durabilia (2023-…).

• Exploratory design methods: Design Fiction, Tangible Interfaces and IoT, direct neural interfaces, and new realities (augmented, virtual and mixed).

• Co-design methods: Systemic Design Framework (British Council), Double Diamond for Kids (collaboration with HEP-VAUD – publication in progress).

• Design of games for social purposes (Durabilia, EMOGARES).

 

Communication strategy, dissemination and popularisation:

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• A communication strategy for the MI sector, utilising the slogan “Become a player in the digital transition,” was used on numerous occasions and significantly impacted registrations. 

• Communication, outreach and project presentations (History of VR, Gamepads, Sustainability)

• Launch of the IM Yearbook, an annual publication that communicates the research and teaching activities of the Media Engineering department.

• Substantial involvement in HEIG-VD’s presence at the Numerik Games festival since 2018. 

• Production of 5 design fiction short films on the future of digital media for the M50 jubilee.

• Design of a business model for SMEs linked to the Design Fiction approach.  

• Extensive cultural network (museums, foundations, institutes).

• Excellent graphic and 3D design skills

 

Main applied research projects
 

As project manager:

2023 - Durabilia - Fonds HES-SO - Link

2021 - 2024 - DECLIC avec HEP-Vaud - Culture Numérique et apprentissages fondamentaux - Fonds SEFRI

2023 - CarbonViz Home - Fonds Innosuisse. Link

2022 - Museum XTD - Digital transformation of cultural institutions - Fonds Etat de Vaud - Link

2022 - ByteSim - Fonds HEIG-VD, Romande Energie et Ville de Lausanne - Link

2021 - CarbonViz - Fonds Innosuisse. Link

2021 - V-Museum - Système générique de valorisation de collection muselle - Fonds HES-SO. Link

2019 - Fonsart: L’inédit et Date My Romandie - Archives de la RTS- Fonds RTS Link

2018-2021 - Mental Work - Fonds Hasler (Fondation) Link

As a scientific collaborator:
 

2014-2018 - EPFL, Venice Time Machine project - Fonds FNS et EPFL

2015-2016 - EPFL, European Project READ - Fonds européens pour la recherche

2017-2018 - EPFL & Université Cà Foscari - Venice, Venice Scholar Index - Fonds FNS

Total funds obtained since 2018 (research and mandates): >CHF 900’000.-.

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Entrepreneurial experience:

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• 2016-present: co-founder and managing partner of Odoma Sàrl, consulting activities, Swiss and European client network (Berlin Natural History Museum; Olympic Museum; I Tatti Foundation – Firenze; Cité des Sciences, Paris; Flanders Heritage Library (Belgium); PLOS (UK); among others.

• 2021-2023: launch of NiftyValue start-up financed by US funds. Development of an AI system for visual similarity between visual productions and price prediction.

• 1998-2015: founder and director of BBStudio, a digital communications agency, 25 employees, Annual sales >3 Mio

 

Publications:

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• Kappeler, G., Bolli, L. & Passeraub, J. (2024). Le jeu de faire semblant à l’ère numérique : comment les enfants utilisent-ils le matériel déconnecté ? Revue de recherche en Littératie Médiatique Multimodale.

• "Imaginer la normalité future: pratiques en design fiction". Conference, HEIG-VD, May 2024.

• Bolli, L. (2023), Bienveillant faiseur de mot / Où est passé le futur?, Éd. ArmaSuisse-Hypothesys

• Bolli, L. (2019), Mental Work - Interfaces neuronales directes, interaction humain-machine et projection d’organe. Contribution to the conference: "Cyborg et Handicap".

• Colavizza, G., Romanello, Bolli, L., Ferronato, S., & Kaplan, F. (2018, June 27). The Scholar Index: Towards a Collaborative Citation Index for the Arts and Humanities. Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.1299240

• Bolli, L. (2018), Histoire de la VR en 13 dates clés – Éd. HEIG-VD/MEI

• Nova, N., & Bolli, L. (2013). JoyPads !: le design des manettes. Éd. Moutons électriques.

• Kakabadse, N. & Bolli, L. (2010), Technology Overload, Éd. Walabab

• Girardin, F., Nova, N., & Bolli, L. (2008), Sliding Friction, Éd. Walabab

 

Pro Bono Commitments:

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• Committee member, Association des Amis des Musées de Pully (2022 – present)

• Member of the Advisory Board of the Science et Cité Foundation (www.science-et-cite.ch)

 

Languages: 

 

French (mother tongue)

English (C1)

Brazilian (B2)

German (A2)

Italian (A2)

Laurent Bolli 
Born May 09, 1972, lives in Lausanne, father of two 
Specialist in human-computer interaction
Associate Dean HES-SO – Media Engineering Institute HEIG-VD

Master of Science in Digital Business, Salford University, 2025
Industrial Design Diploma, ECAL 1992-1997
Co-founder Odoma sàrl (still active)