Zurich · Innovation & Rapid Tech Development

Build what
others only
discuss.

Talk is cheap. Slides are cheaper. We take the problem your team keeps circling and hand back a working answer you can hold.

Days.to first hard evidence
ETH-trained engineers, end to end
One teamscopes, builds, proves
The tension

Some ideas die in meetings.

The challenges that matter most rarely fit the roadmap. They get parked, debated, and deferred — because nobody has the bandwidth to actually go build the answer. That is exactly the gap we fill.

01

No path from idea to thing.

The vision is sharp. The route from concept to something that runs is not.

02

A product falling behind.

Competitors keep moving. Patches won't save it — it needs to be rethought.

03

A team already maxed out.

Your engineers are excellent and fully booked. The next big bet has nowhere to land.

04

A question stuck on repeat.

"Can we even build this?" rolls into next quarter, again. The call never gets made.

Why Papaia

Small team. Heavy hardware.

We are engineers, technologists, and builders rooted in the ETH ecosystem — one of the densest pools of deep-tech talent anywhere. Lean enough to move at startup speed, rigorous enough to be trusted with the hard engineering. No account layers, no hand-offs: the people who pitch you are the people with their hands on your problem.

Fast

Startup tempo. We measure progress in days, not gate reviews.

Technical

Real engineering depth across hardware, software, and systems.

Imaginative

We chase the problems most teams quietly route around.

Hands-on

We don't present possibilities. We build, test, and prove them.

What we do

We turn doubt into proof.

Papaia collapses the distance between a product idea and a result that works. We frame it, engineer it, build it, and put it under load — so you walk away with something real, not a verdict on a slide.

Frame

Sharpen the question

We cut a fuzzy ambition down to a buildable problem and the directions worth chasing.

Build

Make it real

Hardware, software, or both — we turn the strongest direction into something you can pick up and run.

Prove

Hit it with reality

Users, performance, constraints. We test hard, then tell you straight what holds and what doesn't.

The method

Challenge in. Proof out.

No endless discovery. No theory without something to point at. Every stage leaves a tangible artifact on the table.

01 / Challenge

Frame

We pin down the real problem with you, fast.

→ Sharp problem statement
02 / Concept

Explore

We generate directions and stress-test feasibility.

→ Ranked concepts + paths
03 / Prototype

Build

We build the strongest direction for real.

→ Working prototype
04 / Evidence

Test

We run it against reality and report the truth.

→ Test results + verdict
05 / Direction

Decide

You leave with a clear call: build, scale, or pivot.

→ Roadmap + recommendation
The team

The people in the room.

No account managers. No hand-offs. Papaia is a tight crew of ETH-trained engineers and builders — the same hands that scope your challenge design, build, and prove the answer.

JGJeremia GeigerOperations · Innovation

Jeremia Geiger

Operations & Innovation
MSc ETH Mechanical Engineering · BEng Production Management

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
CEDr. Claas EhmkeSystems · Electronics · Robotics

Dr. Claas Ehmke

Systems, Electronics & Robotics
PhD & MSc ETH Robotics, Systems & Control · BSc Electrical Engineering

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
YHYaohui HuangRobotics · Intelligent Systems

Yaohui Huang

Robotics, Control & Intelligent Systems
MSc ETH Robotics, Systems & Control · Willi Studer Prize & ETH Silver Medal

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
DWDavid WerderEmbedded · Sensor Electronics

David Werder

Embedded Systems & Sensor Electronics
MSc ETH Electrical Engineering & Information Technology

Bridges hardware, sensing, and reliable implementation into compact, robust systems. A structured, detail-driven engineer who gets concepts to working prototype.

LinkedIn
DGDaniel GislerProduct · Rapid Prototyping

Daniel Gisler

Product Innovation & Rapid Prototyping
MSc ETH Robotics, Systems & Control · BSc Mechanical Engineering

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
VSViacheslav SydoraRobotics · Learning Control · AI

Viacheslav Sydora

Robotics, Learning Control & AI
BSc RWTH Mechanical Engineering · Max Planck Institute · ETH Multi-Scale Robotics Lab

Connects analytical depth with hands-on implementation, from learning-based control to robotic systems that make complex algorithms tangible. Research-driven, practically minded.

LinkedIn
Advisors
PKAdvisor

Philipp Kopp

Advisor · Development Team Lead, Align Technology
MSc ETH Robotics, Systems & Control · BEng Mechatronics

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.

LinkedIn
JZHonorary Advisor

Jasan Zughaibi

Honorary Advisor · PhD Candidate, ETH & MPI Tübingen
MSc ETH Robotics, Systems & Control · BSc Physics Engineering

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.

LinkedIn
Proof

Show, don't tell.

We'd rather hand you a prototype than describe a process. (Placeholder snapshots — swap in real projects.)

Hardware · POC

Sensor concept to working rig

A stalled feasibility question became a tested, demonstrable proof-of-concept.

6 wksidea to validated prototype
Product · Reinvention

Aging product re-engineered

Modernized architecture and a working prototype of the new direction.

faster than the old system
Software · Sprint

Vague brief to clear path

We framed the challenge and shipped a demo that unblocked the decision.

10 daysto a go / no-go verdict
Let's build

Stop discussing. Start building.

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.

Zurich, Switzerland · hello@papaia.ch · +41 78 984 65 68