The Foundation

The Dalle Molle Foundation for Quality of Life is a non-profit foundation based in Lugano, in the canton of Ticino, Switzerland. Created in 1971 by Angelo Dalle Molle, an Italian industrialist and patron of the arts, it aims to promote quality of life through scientific progress, particularly in the field of new technologies.

The Dalle Molle Foundation is dedicated to the promotion of innovation, in particular through an international prize that rewards original and innovative ideas or research projects that improve the quality of life. With this in mind, since 1970 it has supported the creation in Switzerland of several research institutes, ISSCO, IDSIA, Idiap in the field of artificial intelligence (formerly IDIAP, now known as Idiap) and MEDIPLANT  for aromatic and medicinal plants.

The creation of the Dalle Molle Foundation in Switzerland is due to the Ticino Councillor Ferruccio Bolla (1911-1984). Ferruccio Bolla was part of the study group led by Angelo Dalle Molle in La Barbariga, in the province of Brescia, Italy. Among their fields of research, communication and linguistics in particular occupied a prominent place. Aware of the international problems posed by the multiplicity of languages, Angelo Dalle Molle wanted to create a high-level institute that would explore the possibilities of computer semantics.

With its four official languages, Switzerland was very interested in this work. Ferruccio Bolla persuaded Angelo Dalle Molle of the relevance of setting up his institute in Switzerland, and of allocating the necessary resources to it. The Dalle Molle Foundation for Linguistic Studies was created in 1971 in Lugano (CH), with the task of conducting research in advanced computer science and artificial intelligence.