Noëmi Kaufmann
Noëmi Kaufmann, Management Trainee and Project Manager Circular Economy, made it to the list of the top ten women in tech in Switzerland to follow in 2022. With her engineering mindset and sense for innovation, Noëmi is a leading force for women in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) and sustainable change management at Bühler and beyond. Let’s hear from Noëmi what this recognition means to her, where she sees the biggest challenges and opportunities, and what her advice is to young girls seeking a career in STEM.
Lukas Hofstetter, March 31, 2022
Noëmi, you just made it to the list of top ten women in tech in Switzerland to follow in 2022. Has your LinkedIn account exploded yet?
Indeed, I received a lot of very positive feedback, which is really encouraging. It is also a recognition of the importance of Circular Economy for our company, our industry, and our society.
You’ve been with Bühler for two years as Management Trainee and Project Manager Circular Economy. Can you tell us more about your role and what you like most about your work?
In my role, I explore how we at Bühler can contribute to a Circular Economy with our technologies or future innovations through our network of customers and partners and create awareness. One part of my work strongly links to what we already can do today and how we can use our existing technology or process know-how to enable a circular economy in the food system working towards our company goal reducing 50% waste, 50% energy, and 50% water. The goal is to valorize a considerable share of side streams of products/resources processed on Bühler solutions by connecting to our existing technologies or partnership assets. Two great examples are insect technologies that valorize almost any type of side stream into protein, fat or fertilizer or upcycling the brewers spent grain into Legria done by Circular Food Solution. And we have many more great success stories within our businesses. The other part is exploring lighthouse projects with customers, start-ups or academia to discover new valorization pathways for additional business opportunities needed. The vision is that we can realize zero-waste food production in the future, where everything is sustainably valorized.
The NetworkingDays2022 will be a key milestone with Circular Economy as one of the eight themes to inspire our customers and create business opportunities.
Please let me know, if you have ideas for side stream valorization for your business or existing stories you want to share.
You’ve worked for start-ups and now you’re leading initiatives at Bühler, a big corporation. What are the differences and how can the two benefit from each other?
What I enjoyed most during my work in start-ups is the speed of implementing good ideas iteratively and learning quickly from failure. On the other side, working for a company like Bühler has the great advantage that meaningful innovations will create impact at scale through the leverage of the big network of existing customers. Start-ups can benefit from collaborating with established companies and connecting to their ecosystem, while corporates learn from creative and innovation mindset of start-up teams. I find it cool that Bühler is already doing this through the partnership with MassChallenge.
What does your role as scientific advisor to the Materials Innovation Initiative (MII) entail and can you bring in new inputs and views to Bühler from your work at MII?
MII is a nonprofit that connects peers, innovators, and corporates to advance next-generation materials for the fashion industry. This can be for example animal-free leather alternatives made from mycelium or pineapple leaf fibers. Both the next gen materials and food markets follow the same trends (animal-free, sustainable, circular), use similar raw materials, and can potentially employ similar production technologies. As an expert in the agricultural side streams upcycling and circular economy, I provide advice and support to the MII Board. The role also enables me to have direct access to innovative companies that plan to use agricultural side streams or technology Bühler could provide.
You’re leading the Women in STEM initiative from Generation B, which inspires more girls and women to move into tech. How is Women in STEM organized at Bühler and where do you see the biggest potential for improvement?
Women in STEM started in 2020. Together with my co-leads Sabrina Würsch and Corinne Schneider we grew the team to 30 ambassadors across five continents, motivated by our passion for the STEM topics. We operate along three streams. We inspire more girls and young women to consider a future in STEM by introducing our Bühler role models and their careers in schools. We support the recruiting of female talent through our monthly portrait of female Bühler engineers, apprentices, and techies or collaborate with university associations around the globe. We organize two global events per year during which we raise awareness of the importance of diversity and inclusion in STEM, for example the event with Microsoft in November 2021.
Bühler’s goal is to reach a share of 30% of female employees by 2030, where we want to support. In the coming years, we should attract even more female talent and multiply the efforts to retain the great ones we have. We will only reach this with support of many of our male allies.
If you want to become active as well, please join us from anywhere at Bühler, we want to listen to your ideas and support you in creating the impact you want to have locally. Write to me or check out our GenB page.
You’re living a very busy life – how do you switch off?
I relax by being with friends or family, in nature or sharing good food. In winter, having fun on the slopes and in the mountains is high in my list of priorities! When I need some more calm time I do practice music a lot, singing alone and in the Seefelder Kammerchor Zürich. There is not a single day where I do not listen to music. It frees up my mind.
What’s your advice for young girls in high school thinking about a career in STEM?
Don’t be afraid of anything! Believe in your dreams and your skills. Follow your curiosity, you can do anything you want!
STEM is also cooler than one might think. It is collaborative, it is about teamwork, you are involved in building parts of your own future, and you will enjoy learning every single day.
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