A collaboration between Idiap, HES-SO Valais-Wallis, and the Valais Health Observatory (OVS) aims to ensure that artificial intelligence tools used in healthcare are reliable, understandable, and suited to the Valais population before being introduced into clinical practice.
June 2026 has emerged as a period of great success at Idiap, with the Institute receiving several prestigious international distinctions across the fields of human–computer interaction, computer vision, robotics, and advanced industrial technologies.
The University of Teacher Education Valais (HEP Valais) and Idiap have just completed a one-year research project aimed at gaining a better understanding of the state of AI literacy among the HEP Valais students and exploring how to effectively integrate artificial intelligence into the cantonal education ecosystem.
We are pleased to present our Annual Report for 2025.
Ajinkya Kulkarni, postdoctoral researcher, has received a jury distinction at the 2026 SNSF Scientific Image Competition, recognizing both the scientific relevance and visual impact of his work.
Building reliable conversational AI systems—such as chatbots or virtual assistants like Siri or Alexa—is more challenging than it may initially appear. Although modern LLMs have improved dramatically in capability, researchers and developers still contend with a fragmented ecosystem. Datasets are often stored in incompatible formats, evaluation methodologies lack consistency, and reproducibility remains limited across studies and implementations.
Idiap’s highly anticipated 9-day AI hackathon comes back from August 20 to 28, 2026.
The Institute has secured significant new competitive funding at national and European levels, reaffirming the excellence of its research in a challenging funding environment.
Ajinkya Kulkarni, a postdoctoral researcher at Idiap, has been awarded an SNSF Bridge Proof of Concept grant. His project addresses one of the fastest-growing threats in digital security: voice fraud. Audio deepfakes, AI-generated recordings that convincingly mimic real voices, are already being used for identity fraud, investment scams, and political disinformation.
With a fast-growing community composed of a strong scientific and administrative staff, the Institute is looking for a new Director to lead and drive the Institute’s growth and advance its missions.
AI in Healthcare: Ensuring Reliable and Locally Relevant Tools for Patients in Valais
