About

I am a Swiss citizen based in the French part of Switzerland. I’m currently holding an associate Professor position at the University of Applied Sciences of Western Switzerland. I specialize in Human-Computer Interaction. Before that, I founded and managed my own digital communication agency for 17 years. I then joined the team of Professor Kaplan at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology to work on the Venice Time Machine, a European research project in the field of Digital Humanities. I founded another company (that I still manage today) called Odoma.ch. I am currently pursuing a Master’s degree in Digital Business to validate my practical experience.

Experiences

Current activities

Associate Professor, COMEM+ Department, HEIG-VD, 100% 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

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

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 implementation of the HCI Laboratory, located 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, as well as 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 with:

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:

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 popularization:

Communication strategy for the MI sector with the slogan “Become a player in the digital transition”, used on numerous occasions. Significant impact on registrations.
Communication, outreach and project presentations (History of VR, Gamepads, Sustainability)
Launch of the IM Yearbook, an annual publication communicating the research and teaching activities of the Media Engineering department.
Strong 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. Distribution scheduled for 2024.
Extensive cultural network (museums, foundations, institutes).
Excellent graphic and 3D design skills

Main applied research projects

As project manager:

2023 – Durabilia – Fonds HES-SO

2021 – 2024 – DECLIC with HEP Vaud – Digital Culture and Fundamental Learning – Fonds SEFRI

2021 – CarbonViz Home – Innosuisse Fund

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

2022 – ByteSim – HEIG-VD, Romande Energie and City of Lausanne funds

2021 – CarbonViz – Innosuisse fund

2021 – V-Museum – Generic system for enhancing museum collections – HES-SO and MdA funds

2019 – Fonsart: L’inédit and Date My Romandie – Online newspaper and game using archives – Fonds RTS

2018-2021 – Mental Work – Hasler Fund (Foundation)

As a scientific collaborator:

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

2015-2016 – EPFL, European Project READ – European Research Funds

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

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

Entrepreneurial experience:

1998-2015: founder and director of BBStudio, digital communications agency, 25 employees, sales >2.5 Mio
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 – Florence; 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.

Publications:

Kappeler, G., Bolli, L. & Passeraub, J. (2023 soumis). Le jeu de faire semblant à l’ère numérique : comment les enfants utilisent-ils le matériel déconnecté ? Revue de recherche en Littératie Médiatique Multimodale.
Bolli, L. (2023), Bienveillant faiseur de mot / Où est passé le futur?, Éd. ArmaSuisse-Hypothesys
Bolli, L. (2019), Interfaces neuronales directes, interaction humain-machine et projection d’organe. Contribution 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

Commitments:

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)

Langages: French (mother tongue), English (C1), Portuguese (B2), German, Italian (A2).

Laurent Bolli

Born May 09, 1972, lives in Pully, father of two children (aged 19 and 24)

Specialist in human-computer interaction

Associate Professor HES-SO – Media Engineering HEIG-VD

Industrial Design Diploma, ECAL 1992-1997

Co-founder Odoma sàrl (still active)