PeopleofSuperintelligence

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Vlad Trifa

Vlad Trifa is an engineer and entrepreneur whose work spans the Web of Things and physical AI. He worked as a research associate at SAP Research in Zurich from 2007 to 2010, completed an ETH Zurich PhD on the Web of Things in 2011, and holds an MSc in robotics and machine learning from EPFL. He co-founded EVRYTHNG in January 2011 and co-authored the Web Thing Model, accepted as a W3C Member Submission in 2015. In June and July 2016, he co-authored Building the Web of Things and led Swisscom's Digital Lab at EPFL; in October 2017, he joined Ambrosus as chief product officer. As of October 2026, he runs ZIMT and builds City of Bits, a community and field guide to physical AI, connected infrastructure, and smart cities.

Now at
ZIMT
Born
1982
Badges
Links
Website, Google Scholar, X, LinkedIn and GitHub

Years link to their sources.

Timeline

  1. 2007–2010

    Research associate at SAP

    From 2007 to 2010, he works as a research associate at SAP Research in Zurich, where he explores the integration of sensors and machine systems into business applications for logistics and manufacturing.

  2. January 2011

    Co-founding EVRYTHNG

    In January 2011, he co-founds EVRYTHNG, whose platform gives brands online profiles for offline products and real-time information about each product.

  3. August 2011

    A PhD at ETH Zurich

    He completes his PhD at ETH Zurich in August 2011 with a thesis on the Web of Things. His MSc is in robotics and machine learning from EPFL.

  4. 2015

    The Web Thing Model

    In 2015, he co-authors the Web Thing Model, which becomes an official W3C Member Submission.

  5. June 2016

    Building the Web of Things

    He co-authors Building the Web of Things with Dominique Guinard in June 2016. Readers learn how to connect physical devices to the web and expose their services and data through REST APIs.

  6. July 2016

    Leading Swisscom's Digital Lab

    In July 2016, he leads Swisscom's Digital Lab at EPFL's Innovation Park. At the lab, enterprise clients explore and test new technologies while Swisscom develops pilot projects.

  7. October 2017

    Chief product officer at Ambrosus

    In October 2017, he joins Ambrosus full-time as chief product officer after serving as a technical adviser.

  8. As of October 2026

    ZIMT and City of Bits

    As of October 2026, he is an engineer and entrepreneur who runs ZIMT, a product design and strategy studio in Zürich, and builds City of Bits, a community and field guide to physical AI, connected infrastructure, and smart cities.

Career

  1. NowZIMT
  2. From 2017AmbrosusChief Product Officer
  3. From 2016SwisscomLead
  4. From 2011EVRYTHNGCo-founder
  5. 2007–2010SAPResearch associate

Education

  1. 2011ETH ZurichPhD
  2. EPFLMSc in robotics and machine learning

From the biography.

  1. 11% of AI doctorate holders from 2010 to 2016 founded or led a company or lab by 10 years after graduationIncludes Vlad Trifa. We estimate how often AI doctorate holders founded or led a company or lab by 10 years after graduation, how waiting times compare between founders and top jobs, and which universities trained the most.
  2. The company share of AI researchers’ top papers was 31% in 2020–2024 and 8% in 1970–1974Includes SAP. We estimate where the people shaping AI worked when their most-cited papers appeared: the company share was 31% in 2020–2024 and 8% in 1970–1974, and Google led all organizations in 2020–2024.
  3. The median h-index is 48 at universities and 14 at frontier AI labsIncludes ETH Zurich. The median h-index is 48 at universities and 14 at frontier AI labs. We compare publishing careers, recent citations, dual appointments and job moves across 2,420 university researchers and 308 frontier-lab researchers.
  4. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology trained or employed 44 of the 187 AI major-prize winners, more than any other universityIncludes ETH Zurich. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology trained or employed 44 of the 187 AI major-prize winners, more than any other university. We compare doctorate and 5+ year employment links, career timing and current workplaces for 187 major-prize and 1,111 best-paper winners.

Colleagues

People with dated positions at the same organization in the same years.

Sources and credits

Photo: We have no published photo of Vlad Trifa yet. Send us a free-licensed photo.

  1. Team – Web of Things webofthings.org. Checked 21 October 2026.
  2. EVRYTHNG - Wikipedia en.wikipedia.org. Checked 21 October 2026.
  3. 16. EVRYTHNG - Startups.co.uk startups.co.uk. Checked 21 October 2026.
  4. DSG Publications - BibTeX Entry vs.inf.ethz.ch. Checked 21 October 2026.
  5. Vlad Trifa — Engineer & Author of Building the City of Bits vladtrifa.com. Checked 21 October 2026.
  6. Vlad Trifa en.wikipedia.org. Checked 21 October 2026.
  7. Building the Web of Things - Dominique D. Guinard and Vlad M. Trifa manning.com. Checked 21 October 2026.
  8. Digital Lab: plateforme d’innovation | ICTjournal ictjournal.ch. Checked 21 October 2026.
  9. Ambrosus Hires Former Head of Swisscom’s Digital Lab As Chief Product Officer | The Fintech Times thefintechtimes.com. Checked 21 October 2026.