Turn product uncertainty into engineered progress.
Papaia is the Zurich team that converts your hardest product questions into working, tested reality — at startup speed. Hand us the problem that won't move, and we'll hand back proof.
Six formats, one outcome: momentum.
Whether you need a fast verdict or a long-running R&D partner, there's an engagement shaped to your challenge. Start where you are.
Innovation Sprint
From a foggy question to a concrete, ranked direction in a matter of days.
Use when → you need momentum nowRapid Prototyping
We translate "maybe" into something you can hold, demo, and decide on.
Use when → you need to see it workFeasibility & Concept Development
A credible technical answer to "can this be built, and how" — before you commit budget.
Use when → budget is on the lineProduct Reinvention
We re-engineer what an aging product could become — technically and conceptually.
Use when → it's losing groundEngineering Development
Senior engineering firepower to build the real thing — or the hardest part of it.
Use when → you have the directionInnovation Partnership
An ongoing strike team on call — your external R&D capacity for whatever comes next.
Use when → innovation never stopsA challenge goes in. Evidence comes out.
No bottomless discovery phases, no theory without a build. Every stage produces something you can hold, read, or act on.
Frame it
Together we cut the real problem out of the noise — fast.
Explore it
We generate directions and stress-test each one for feasibility.
Build it
We engineer the most promising direction into a real prototype.
Test it
We measure it against reality and report what's actually true.
Decide it
You leave with a confident next move: build, scale, or pivot.
We replace guesswork with things that work.
Papaia shrinks the gap between a product idea and a tangible result. We frame it, engineer it, and put it to the test — so every engagement ends with something real you can build on, never a slide deck of opinions.
Frame & imagine
We sharpen a fuzzy ambition into a buildable problem and surface directions worth chasing.
Make it real
Hardware, software, or both — we engineer the strongest direction into something tangible.
Test the truth
We push it against users, performance, and constraints, then tell you what holds up.
We'd rather show you than tell you.
A prototype settles arguments that a process diagram never will. (Indicative snapshots — real projects swap in here.)
Sensor concept → working rig
A stalled feasibility question became a tested, demonstrable proof-of-concept.
Aging product, re-engineered
Modernized architecture plus a working prototype of the new direction.
Vague brief → clear path
We framed the challenge and shipped a demo that unblocked the decision.
Small team. Serious firepower.
We're engineers, technologists, and builders shaped by the ETH ecosystem — one of the densest pools of technical talent anywhere. Lean enough to move at startup speed, rigorous enough to trust with hard engineering. No account layers, no filler: the people who pitch you are the same hands that build your solution.
Fast
Startup tempo, not consultancy drag.
Technical
Real engineering depth, not slideware.
Imaginative
We take on the problems others sidestep.
Hands-on
We build it, test it, and prove it.
The people who'll be in the room.
No account managers, no hand-offs. Papaia is a tight crew of ETH-trained engineers and builders — the same people who scope your challenge design, build, and prove the solution.
Operations · InnovationJeremia Geiger
Raised inside two industrial family businesses, Jeremia leads ambitious multidisciplinary teams — from product design and software to data science. He turns industrial complexity into momentum.
LinkedIn
Systems · Electronics · RoboticsDr. Claas Ehmke
Built his first robotic system in high school and never stopped. An electronics and embedded expert with deep hands-on hard- and software skills, and an affinity for medical tech and autonomous systems.
LinkedIn
Robotics · Intelligent SystemsYaohui Huang
Turns advanced models into robust real-world behaviour. Award-winning work in mechatronics and soft robotics, with analytical clarity and a sharp systems perspective on hard problems.
LinkedIn
Embedded · Sensor ElectronicsDavid Werder
Bridges hardware, sensing, and reliable implementation into compact, robust systems. A structured, detail-driven engineer who gets concepts to working prototype.
LinkedIn
Product · Rapid PrototypingDaniel Gisler
Innovation manager at Align Technology. Turns early ideas into testable concepts fast — reducing uncertainty through experimentation and building the first functional version of complex systems.
LinkedIn
Robotics · Learning Control · AIViacheslav Sydora
Connects analytical depth with hands-on implementation, from learning-based control to robotic systems that make complex algorithms tangible. Research-driven, practically minded.
LinkedInPhilipp Kopp
A natural leader with entrepreneurial drive and deep-tech expertise in software, computer vision, and machine learning. Co-founded his first deep-tech startup before graduate studies.
LinkedInJasan Zughaibi
An expert in control theory and its applications, with a portfolio of award-winning robotics projects. Researching at ETH's Multi-Scale Robotics Lab and the Max Planck Institute.
LinkedInSome challenges just won't fit the roadmap.
They stall inside normal processes. They don't need another workshop full of sticky notes — they need a team that moves fast, thinks technically, and builds the proof. Sound familiar?
No technical path
You have the idea, but no clear route from concept to something that actually works.
An aging product
It's losing ground while competitors move, and it needs reinventing — not just patching.
A team at capacity
Your people are brilliant and fully booked. The new challenge has nowhere to land.
A deferred question
"Is this even feasible?" keeps slipping to next quarter. The decision stays frozen.
Bring us the challenge your team can't stop thinking about.
Tell us where you're stuck — or where you want to go. We'll tell you fast what's possible, and exactly how we'd build it.