Frédéric Guerne, humanitarian engineer

An enthusiast of weapons and explosive devices since his earliest childhood, Frédéric Guerne develops, builds and deploys remote-controlled mine-clearing machines for African, East Asian and even European minefields. As part of the Digger Foundation, based in Tavannes in the Bernese Jura, he created the Digger DTR machines. These armored monsters are capable of cleaning large contaminated surfaces without sacrificing precious human lives.

The Digger Foundation, like its founder, is rooted in a region known mainly for not being the canton of Jura: the Bernese Jura. And yet, like the Neuchâtel mountains, it is a hotbed of Swiss microtechnology, of which watchmaking is the defining element. It is also rich in unusual political history: «Espace noir» still bears witness to this in Saint-Imier. But it's also