LET’S BRING INNOVATION TO LIFE!
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A big thank you goes to all innovators, ambassadors, and partners who contributed to the past year‘s successes. In particular, I would like to thank the Executive Board of the University for their support of the UZH Innovation Hub, the Cluster Leads for their personal commitment and inspiring exchange, as well as the team of the Innovation Office for their energy, motivation and joy in actively shaping the UZH Innovation Hub.
Maria Olivares, Head Innovation UZH Innovation Office University of Zurich
Promoting innovation is one of the strategic goals of the Uni versity of Zurich (UZH). In particular, innovation and entre preneurship are understood as an integral part of its teaching and research mission. With the UZH Innovation Hub laun ched in 2019, the UZH explicitly fosters innovation and ent repreneurship activities. The goal is to strengthen the culture of innovation at the university and the positioning of UZH as an innovation player in the national and international inno vation ecosystem.
After a successful startup phase, the UZH Innovation Hub is entering its growth phase. Strategic innovation topics are moved forward in four innovation clusters, namely in the areas of Life Sciences, Space & Aviation, Digitalization and, since 2021, Healthy Longevity. The Innovation Cluster for „Research Infrastructure „will no longer be managed as a cluster as of the end of 2021. Instead, the technology plat forms serve as an important university-wide cross-sectional offering in the UZH Innovation Hub. The innovation clusters are at different stages of development. For one thing, they were launched at different time points. On the other hand, their strategic focuses have been set differently due to diffe rent starting positions and needs.
With a focus on impact, diversity and collaboration, the UZH Innovation Hub‘s offers are continuously extended and opti mized. The goal is to provide complementary support instru ments fostering innovation activities at various stages. Since
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SUCCESSFUL COMPLETION OF THE PILOT PHASE
2021, two new formats of entrepreneurship education have supplemented the portfolio: the Minor in „BioMed Entre preneurship „and the „UZH Innovathon „. Numerous other entrepreneurship trainings, workshops and events at the fa culties and in cooperation with external partners complete the offer. The number of students and researchers interested in participating in the programs, courses and trainings of fered at the UZH Innovation Hub is growing. This reflects the importance of entrepreneurship education as a building block of the UZH course catalogue.
Collaboratively, the ecosystem is driven forward with ambitious UZH stakeholders, including university ent ities, initiatives, research groups, committed researchers, motivated students and engaged partners.
Through the targeted collaboration of the innovation clusters with relevant stakeholders from business, industry, the public sector and the startup scene, the innovation potential at UZH is to be more fully exploited and translational activities acce lerated. This is to strengthen the innovation culture at the uni versity and UZH‘s positioning as an innovative player in the innovation ecosystem on a national and international level.
UZH INNOVATION HUB AT A GLANCE
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The UZH Innovation Hub bundles and nurtures the UZH ecosystem of innovation and entrepreneurship, sup porting people, programs and initiatives across the campus. It serves as a connector to bridge students, researchers and external partners. Thereby it accelerates the further development of new inventions, disco veries and ideas and supports the transfer of innovative research to create societal impact.
Four strategic innovation clusters have been established to foster innovation in specific cross-cutting areas. These are Life Sciences, Space & Aviation, Digitalization and Healthy Longevity. The innovation clusters operate university-wide and are strongly oriented towards interdisciplinary collabo ration. Each cluster is managed separately and has the stra tegic and operational freedom to develop the cluster to serve its purpose best.
geted training of entrepreneurial thinking and behavior is intended to enable alternative career paths and empower ta lents for the future world of work. The support portfolio of the UZH Innovation Hub is made possible by various stake holders, including the UZH Innovation Office but also UZH institutes, initiatives, research groups other entities and com mitted researchers and engaged partners.
The successful implementation of innovative ideas requires skills & knowledge, infrastructure, network & advice as well as capital & funding. For that reason, the UZH Innovation Hub has set its support portfolio along these crucial building blocks. The goal is to support researchers and students in va rious phases, from ideation to prototyping and the validation of an innovative idea with market potential to seed funding, with a diverse range of funding options. In addition, the tar
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UZH Innovation Office
The Innovation Office is responsible for establishing and de veloping the UZH Innovation Hub strategically, conceptually and operationally. It orchestrates the ecosystem by running demand-driven instruments and implementing structures to foster innovation and entrepreneurship at UZH. Amongst
others, the Innovation Office offers entrepreneurship edu cation, awards early-stage funding, supports the innovation clusters in their work, actively drive communities as well as partnerships and further enhances the visibility of the uni versity‘s innovative strength.
Photo: Credit Suisse
The cluster was involved in Scientifica and held a pre-Scien tifica event at Hangar 9 in Dübendorf for politicians, local school classes and the general public. In 2021, the UZH Space Hub was able to welcome new members from different facul ties and with diverse backgrounds and entered a partnership with Technopark Liechtenstein to connect their innovation ecosystems and to encourage and facilitate the founding of new startup companies.
Innovation Cluster for Life Sciences
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In a flight campaign conducted by UZH in collaboration with the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratories, the remote sensing system AVIRIS-NG, was mounted on board an aircraft and acquired spectroradiometric data of 90 test sites all over Europe.
Innovation clusters foster innovation in cross-cutting areas of strategic importance: Space and Aviation, Life Scien ces, Digitalization and Healthy Longevity. A key role of the clusters is to build communities that reach beyond UZH and include relevant stakeholders from business, industry, the public sector, and non-profit organizations. This ena bles mutual knowledge transfer as well as bringing university expertise and know-how into socially relevant de bates. The researchers address current trends and challenges from society, industry and business and contribute to solutions through innovative research, industry collaboration and open innovation.
The Life Sciences Innovation Cluster works strongly trans disciplinary to strengthen synergies for collaboration within academic settings and beyond with industry, predominantly in the pharmaceutical and biotechnological sectors. To keep up UZH’s distinct performance, translational activities are being supported by various offers for researchers and stu dents, ranging from excellent research infrastructure, trai ning programs for BioEntrepreneurs, funding by the UZH Entrepreneur Fellowships as well as project support by the Therapy Development Accelerator. Wyss Zurich and the UZH Life Sciences Fund complement the support for UZH spin-offs in the Life Sciences domain.
According to Space Tec Analytics, the UZH Space Hub be longs to the 28 globally significant space hubs. 2021 was mar ked by important national and international research cam paigns, including the 75th ESA parabolic flight campaign. The cluster has been active in mobilizing and educating a growing community of young researchers interested in space activities. It organized 12 Space Café events with 622 partici pants, offered courses on the EPFL MOOC New Space Aca demy platform and was engaged in the UZH Innovathon and the Copernicus Hackathon. The UZH Space Hub encouraged
Innovation Cluster for Space and Aviation – aka UZH Space Hub
UZH affiliates to participate in the ESA astronaut selection and gave 22 candidates feedback on their ESA applications.
The innovation potential of UZH research activities in the Life Sciences domain is huge. With researchers at four uni versity hospitals, UZH has a unique opportunity to drive innovation along the entire translational chain, from labora tory to clinic. This potential is reflected, among others, in the number of UZH spin-offs founded in recent years. In the last two years, eight out of eleven UZH spin-offs had their origin in this field.
INNOVATION CLUSTERS
The UZH Space Hub drives innovation activities in the fields of earth observation, space life sciences and astrophysics in collaboration with 25 national and 28 international partners, as well as aerospace-related startups. The cluster has mem bers from 36 research groups across the university. Members are offered support to access infrastructure and plan research campaigns, interdisciplinary collaborations, and innovation projects with industry partners.
The Innovation Cluster «Healthy Longevity» was launched in 2021 to advance innovations for the context-sensitive pro motion and preservation of functional ability and quality of life in a long-living society. The cluster is cross-disciplinary, strongly international in scope, and intends to position the UZH as a global leader in this field.
In 2021, the cluster activities included an instance of the Di gital Entrepreneurship Program offered since 2019 and in novation funding programs, such as the UZH Entrepreneur Fellowship and Digital Innovation Grants. The Ambassadors of the cluster play an essential role as researchers and innova tion enablers. Together with students, innovators and busi ness coaches, they form a thriving community to grow the innovation potential of UZH across faculties and disciplines.
The Digital Innovation Cluster builds upon the strategic fo cus of UZH to promote independent scientific reflection and innovation on challenges and opportunities relating to a di gital society.
For the first time in 2021, the Digital Innovation Cluster, to gether with the Community „Mobility“ of the Digital Society Initiative, set up a UZH Innovathon: an innovation hackathon that brings together partners from the corporate world with students and researchers to develop prototype solutions for challenges in business and society. The theme of the Innovat hon 2021 was „Digitalization of Mobility“, and it delivered various concepts and models addressing societal, economic, and technological challenges of mobility. The coming years will continue to feature Innovathons, courses for Digital En trepreneurship, and funding support by Digital Innovation Grants and Fellowships for UZH‘s digital shapers.
The Soul Gardening App based on developmental theories and develop mental counselling approaches aims at the well-being across the lifespan. Download the app to check it out yourself
For example, in a recent project UZH psychologists Sibill A. Schilter and Mathias Allemand developed an app that guides, supports and encourages people to think about the opposing change strategies of holding on to and letting go of goals, people or things in light of their challenges.
Ageing», UZH with its university research focus on dyna mics of healthy ageing and the Center for Gerontology is in a unique position to identify current and future societal challenges and to help shaping the international research and innovation.
Innovation Cluster for Healthy Longevity
The cluster brings a fresh perspective on the university‘s role in dealing with societal change, strengthening different rou tes for innovation across many disciplines, from social scien ces to business and economics to informatics.
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Participants at the UZH Innovathon develop solutions to challenges around the digitalization of mobility.
Innovation Cluster for Digitalization
As the current coordinator of the «World Health Organi zation (WHO) Collaborating Center Network for Healthy
Check out all the trainings and funding support www.innovation.uzh.chat
was supported by a UZH Entrepreneur Fellowship in 2020 and received the BRIDGE POC Grant in the same year.
These results bode well for the future, especially as many cancer patients respond poorly to current treatments or suffer a relapse. This inspired Montalban-Arques to venture into entrepreneurship and translate her research results into patient care.
Anapersons.Montalban-Arques
Photo: Oliver Lang for the Werner Siemens Foundation
The UZH Entrepreneur Fellow Ana Montalban-Arques‘ interest in intestinal bacteria has grown steadily since her Master‘s Thesis ten years ago. Now she is close to founding the UZH spin-off Recolony together with Prof. Michael Scharl.
INNOVATION STORY
The next step for the team on the path to a marketable product is to produce the bacterial mix as a freeze-dried product that will be encapsulated for a simple oral administration. In the best-case sce nario, the mix will become the first-ever cancer therapy that uses bacteria to enhance the effectiveness of other immunotherapies and in which the bacteria themselves function as stand-alone immunot herapy. Ultimately, the Clostridiales bacterial mix could help cure colon cancer, stop relapses, and prevent tumour growth in at-risk
With her team, she has demonstrated that patients with colorectal cancer have a different composition of gut microbiota compared to healthy people: certain bacterial species from the Clostridiales order are reduced or lacking. When these Clostridiales bacterial strains are administered to mice with colon cancer, their immune system gets activated and attacks the tumour effectively —with no side effects whatsoever.
More about Ana‘s Entrepreneur Fellowship project on our website.
My aim is to develop specific bacterial mixes as an immunotherapy for different types of cancer.
Frei More students180thanvisitedentrepreneushipcoursesatUZHin2021
Photo: Jasmin
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Innovators Camp
Innosuisse Business Concept Course
Bio Entrepreneurship & Innovation Program Innovation
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BUILDING COMPETENCES
In 2021, seven different hands-on entrepreneurship courses and a Minor in BioMed Entrepreneurship were offered at the UZH attended by more than 180 participants in total. Currently, there are trainings for Digital Entrepreneurship, BioEntrepreneurship, Social Entrepreneurship and business concept development. Some courses are offered by univer sity entities, such as the Institute for Regenerative Medicine
Digital Ventures Seminar
Digital Innovation Digital Innovation Life Science Innovation
Ideation Team BusinessConcept UMarket serTest
Innovation
Social Innovation
Digital Entrepreneur ship Bootcamp
Ideas are easy, but implementing them is hard. While good ideas and breakthrough research results are an excellent source for innovations, motivated and talented people are needed to move innovative ideas from concepts to imple mentations with impact. Therefore, a university‘s innovation strategy must foster entrepreneurial skills among its talents. Entrepreneurship education has become more important in recent years since it conveys competences necessary for new work environments, i.e. entrepreneurial skills and knowled ge that any modern employer will expect in the future.
Entrepreneurship courses at UZH target students and researchers at various stages of their entrepreneurial journey
Digital Innovation UZH Innovathon
Social Entrepreneur ship Program
(IREM) or the Department of Economics. Others are offered in partnership with external partners, such as the Innosuis se Business Concept Course. Moreover, several courses have been initiated in a joint effort with the UZH Innovation Of fice, for example, the Digital Ventures Seminar, which is offe red together with the Chair for Entrepreneurship or the UZH Innovathon, a collaboration with the Digital Society Initiati ve. The courses convey know-how around business idea va lidation, market studies, IP protection and competences such as team building, ideation and pitching. Many of the courses are ECTS eligible, thereof four that were recently added to the newly established School for Transdisciplinary Studies (STS). Students from all UZH faculties are able to attend – an important step forward, as developing solutions in interdi sciplinary teams with diverse competences is a core element of most courses.
Furthermore, UZH is involved in six of the 15 supported Flagships Projects by Innosuisse and leads the project “In clusive Information and Communication Technologies”. The Flagship initiative is to stimulate innovation in areas relevant to a large part of the economy or society and to promote transdisciplinary project collaboration.
In 2021, a total amount of 15 UZH innovation projects were supported by Innosuisse, including both projects in the ran ge of CHF 100’000 – 500’000 and innovation checks of CHF 15’000. All supported projects include UZH researchers who collaborate with implementation partners: eleven projects in the area of life sciences, three in the area of ICT and one in the area of social sciences. Until today, Innosuisse funding however makes up only a small part of the UZH third-party funding with less than 3%.
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these developments, UZH increasingly supports researchers interested in translating their research findings into practical implementations, see e.g. the UZH Entrepre neur Fellowships and the recently launched Digital Innova tions Grants. Both funding instruments are made possible by donations to the university. Also on a national level, the strengthening of early-stage funding can be observed. For example the Swiss National Foundation (SNSF) and Innosu isse foresee stronger coordination of their strategies to sup port Swiss research and innovation activities. For the period of 2021-2023, they have decided to increase the budget of the joint BRIDGE program by 50 % to enable more researchers to bring science-based innovation into practice.
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FUNDING OPPORTUNITIES FOR SCIENCE-BASED INNOVATION
Fostering Research-Industry Collaboration
While basic research is enabled by university funding, inno vation activities often depend on third-party funding. Fort unately, financial support for science-based innovation has gained a greater interest over the last few years. This is due to the rising expectation from society for academic institutions to take a more active role in future-proofing our society and
To stimulate more translation activities in digitalization re search at UZH, the Digital Innovation Grants were newly launched last year. The program immediately caught great interest with 50 applications in 2021 and supported seven promising projects with CHF 10’000 each.
With the UZH Entrepreneur Fellowships already launched in 2017 the UZH supports young researchers interested in transferring UZH research results into novel products and services. The UZH Entrepreneur Fellowship Program is part of the early-stage funding support and amounts funding of between CHF 100’000 and CHF 150’000. Thereby, UZH aims to accelerate the translation of research results into impactful solutions for our society. In 2021, seven new projects were supported by a fellowship, one in the digital innovation area, and the others in the areas of Biotech and Medtech.
Supporting the Translation into Practice
The Wyss Zurich, a joint accelerator of UZH and ETH Zurich, supports the transition to market for spin-offs in the area of regenerative medicine and robotics and hybrid technologies. In 2021, the UZH spin-off MUVON joined Wyss Zurich. De ana Mohr, one of the co-founders, was previously supported by a UZH Entrepreneur Fellowship.
The UZH Life Sciences Fund, a joint initiative of the UZH and the Novartis Venture Fund founded in 2016, has supported five UZH spin-offs in life sciences to date. It supported no additional companies in 2021.
Innosuisse UZH Entrepreneurship Fellowships
Digital Innovation GrantsBRIDGE
Accelerate UZH Life Sciences Spin-Offs
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FUNDING ALLOCATED IN kCHF
PROJECTS SUPPORTED
In addition, five UZH projects received funding from the BRIDGE Program, supporting the transfer of cutting-edge research into the market.
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Jingjing Jiang Willy Kuo
A contrast agent for high resolution X-ray ima ging of the vascular system
Valentina Vongrad
Rapid non-invasive detection of neonatal disease through liquid biopsies
UZH ENTREPRENEUR FELLOWSHIPS
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An immunotherapy for endometriosis
With the UZH Entrepreneur Fellowships the University of Zurich provides funding, coaching, training and lab facilities to young researchers who intend to start up a company based on UZH research. In 2021, seven new Entrepreneur Fellowships were awarded to BioTech, MedTech and Digital innovation Yim
A bedside infrared optical tomography system to image the brain oxygen saturation of preterm infants
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An integrated platform for the information of digi tal corporations on the blockchain 1 0
An immunotherapy for endometriosis
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Reconnect Labs AG develops an alternative solution based on psychedelic sub stances to treat affective disorders in a more patient-centered, rapid and sustainable fashion. The spin-off is based on the Entrepreneur Fellowship project of Dario-Alessandro Dorn bierer.
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InCephalo is working on new therapies for diseases of the central ner vous system (CNS). The Compartment Locked Biologics technology was developed to optimize antibodies for delive ry past the blood-brain barrier and targeted to the CNS. Their first drug precursor is directed towards malignant brain tu mours (glioblastoma). The spin-off is based on the Entrepre neur Fellowship project of Michal Beffinger.
Genetically re-programmed macrophages for breast cancer immunotherapy
17 Simon BredlMarcus Grüschow
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Since the launch of the UZH Entrepreneur Fellowships in 2017, 28 projects have been supported. The program‘s goal is to accelerate the transfer of UZH research results into impactful solutions for our society. In 2021, two new spin-offs were founded by former Entrepreneur Fellows.
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UZH is proud to be the founding location of numerous young companies and supports both startup ambitions and entrepreneurial activities that contribute to knowledge and technology transfer.
founded by teams of founders with a connection to the uni versity but without using university technology.
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UZH SPIN-OFFS & STARTUPS
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In total, the label has been awarded 56 times. In 2021, applica tions more than doubled compared to the previous year. The label was awarded to founders of eight UZH spin-offs and 13 startups. UZH spin-offs are companies that develop new products based on UZH research results and technologies or bring them to market maturity and have concluded a license agreement with the university. UZH startups are companies
Founders awarded the UZH Startup Label become part of the multifaceted UZH Startup Community. The startups benefit from visibility on the UZH Innovation Hub website, an ex clusive venture story publication and the possibility to share major success stories on the UZH Innovation Hub social me dia channels. In partnership with UZH Alumni, new startup label owners are offered a one-year free membership to the UZH Alumni Chapter Entrepreneurs. This partnership, laun ched in 2021, is built on mutual interest between UZH Alum ni and the UZH Innovation Hub to reach out to and support UZH Alumni.
bel. Almost 50% of the applicants were UZH spin-offs.
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Since 2017, UZH has awarded the „UZH Startup Label“ to selected startups and spin-offs. With the label, UZH under pins its confidence in the newly founded company. It intends to convey credibility to potential customers, external inves tors and partners. At the same time, it shows the affiliation to UZH.
Four new UZH spin-offs were founded in 2021. InCephalo is working on new therapies for diseases of the central nervous system (CNS), QRsens will offer a device that can significant ly increase the success rate of organ transplants, Reconnect Labs develops alternative solutions to treat affective disor ders based on psychedelic substances, Vector BioPharma de velops cutting-edge gene delivery solutions that can trans port genes for therapeutic agents.
Researchers from the UZH Space Hub, together with Airbus Defence and Space, sent an experiment to the International Space Station (ISS) to advance the industrial production of human tissue in microgravity. Novartis has signed a collaboration agreement and an option to acquire Cellerys. The UZH spin-off, founded in 2015, is re searching an innovative therapy to combat multiple sclerosis.
The Biotech company and UZH spin-off Molecular Partners reports promising results and seeks regulatory approval for a drug against Covid-19. The Antiviral Therapeutic is based on the DARPin Technology, developed at the UZH.
Six projects with UZH researchers were granted support through the first Rapid Action Call of the DIZH (Digitaliza tion Initiative of the Zurich Higher Education Institutions). They will develop innovations ranging from an ambient dis play for productive work to an ethic assessment tool for the humanitarian use of drone use.
The UZH spin-off iniVation got their neuromorphic image processing system sent into space in an Australian satellite mission.
MUVON AG, a UZH spin-off in the area of cell therapy, is taken up in the Wyss Zurich Accelerator. Deana Mohr, the co-founder, was previously supported by the UZH Entre preneur Fellowship.
SUCCESS STORIES
The UZH spin-off Cutiss has unveiled the world‘s first auto mated machine for the production of customized skin tissue grafts for adults and children with severe skin injuries and were rated 2nd in the Top 100 Swiss Startup Awards.
The Innosuisse Flagship Project „Inclusive Information and Communication Technologies,“ leading by UZH researcher Sarah Eberli was granted 12.4 Mio CHF.
The spin-off EraCal, which is developing an appetite inhibi tor, has entered into a research collaboration with the inter national pharmaceutical manufacturer Novo Nordisk.
Increased visibility of the innovation activities supports the goal of the UZH Innovation Hub of creating a positive inno vation culture at UZH and helps to position the university as an innovation player towards external partners in Switzer land and Professionalabroad.storytelling
P r o f e s s i o n a l s t o r y t e l l i n g i s c e n t r a l t o i n c r e a s i n g t h e v i s i b i l i t y o f u n i v e r s i t y i n n o v a t i o n s u c c e s s e s T h e c o m m u n i c a t i o n o f s u c c e s s s t o r i e s a n d r o l e m o d e l s f r o m u n i v e r s i t y i n n o v a t i o n p r o j e c t s a n d s t a r t u p s s e r v e s t o m a k e t h e t r a n s l a t i o n o f r e s e a r c h i n t o t h e m a r k e t t a n g i b l e . I n 2 0 2 1 , U Z H C o m m u n i c a t i o n s r e p o r t e d o n i n n o v a t i o n a n d e n t r e p r e n e u r s h i p i n a t o t a l o f 1 4 U Z H m e d i a r e l e a s e s , w h i c h a c h i e v e d a n a t i o n a l a n d i n t e r n a t i o n a l m e d i a r e s p o n s e o f m o r e t h a n
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P r o f e s s i o n a l s t o r y t e l l i n g i s c e n t r a l t o i n c r e a s i n g t h e v i s i b i l i t y o f u n i v e r s i t y i n n o a t i o n s u c c e s s e s . T h e c o m m u i c a t i o o f s u c c e s s s t o r i e s a n d r o l e m o d e l s f r o m u n i v e r s i t y i n n o v a t i o n p r o j e c t s a n d s t a r t u p s s e r v e s t o m a k e t h e t r a n s l a t i o n o f r e s e a r c h i n t o t h e m a r k e t t a n g i b l e I n 2 0 2 1 , U Z H C o m m u n i c a t i o s r e p o r t e d o n i n a t i o n a n d e n t r e p r e n e u r s h i p i n a t o t a l o f 1 4 U Z H m e d i a r e l e a s e s , w h i c h a c h i e v e d a n a t i o n a l a n d i n t e r n a t i o n a l m e d i a r e s p o n s e o f m o r e t h a n
J u n e : T h e f i r s t a n n u a l e d i t i o n o f t h e U Z H H e a l t h y L o n g e v i t y e p t : T h e l l i g E T
J u n e : T h e f i r s t a n n u a l e d i t i o n o f t h e U Z H H e a l t h y L o n g e v i t y I n n o v a t i o n D a y s g g w i t h E T H Z u r i c h , z h d k , Z H A W a n d H i r s l a n d e n c l i n i c
I n n o v a t i o n D a y s S
H Z u r i c h , z h d k , Z H A W a n d H i r s l a n d e n c l i n i c 20
W i t h c o l l a b o r a t i o n a n d c o m m u n i t y b u i l d i n g b e c o m i n g m o r e a n d m o r e d i g i t a l , t h e U Z H I n n o v a t i o n O f f i c e h a s p u t a b i g e m p h a s i s o n r e a c h i n g o u t o n s o c i a l m e d i a T h e U Z H I n n o v a t i o n H u b ' s s o c i a l m e d i a c h a n n e l s c o n t i n u e d t o i n c r e a s e i t s r e a c h , w i t h o v e r 4 ' 0 0 0 f o l l o w e r s o n L i n k e d I n a t t h e e n d o f 2 0 2 1 . T o m a k e t h e c o n t e n t a v a i l a b l e f o r y e a r s , 1 8 o f t h e v i d e o s p r o d u c e d i n 2 0 2 1 w e r e a d d e d t o t h e U Z H I n n o v a t i o n H u b Y o u T u b e c h a n n e l
W i t h c o l l a b o r a t i o n a n d c o m m u n i t y b u i l d i n g b e c o m i n g m o r e a n d m o r e d i g i t a l , t h e U Z H I n n o v a t i o n O f f i c e h a s p u t a b i g e m p h a s i s o n r e a c h i n g o u t o n s o c i a l m e d i a T h e U Z H I n n o v a t i o n H u b ' s s o c i a l m e d i a c h a n n e l s c o n t i n u e d t o i n c r e a s e i t s r e a c h , w i t h o v e r 4 ' 0 0 0 f o l l o w e r s o n L i n k e d I n a t t h e e n d o f 2 0 2 1 . T o m a k e t h e c o n t e n t a v a i l a b l e f o r y e a r s , 1 8 o f t h e v i d e o s p r o d u c e d i n 2 2 w e r e a d d e d t o t h e U Z H I n n o v a t i o n H u b Y o u T u b e c h a n n e l
ons. In addition, the topic was included in 14 articles for UZH News and the UZH Magazine, supplemented by three new „Invented at UZH“ stories. Among all UZH News articles 8% focused on innovation activities.
1 ' 5 0 0 c o n t r i b u t i o n s I n a d d i t i o n , t h e t o p i c w a s i n c l u d e d i n 1 4 a r t i c l e s f o r U Z H N e w s a n d t h e U Z H M a g a z i n e , s u p p l e m e n t e d b y t h r e e n e w " I n v e n t e d a t U Z H " s t o r i e s A m o n g a l l U Z H N e w s a r t i c l e s , 8 % f o c u s e d o n i n n o v a t i o n a c t i v i t i e s
With collaboration and community building becoming more and more digital, the UZH Innovation Office has put a big emphasis on reaching out on social media. The UZH Inno vation Hub‘s social media channels continued to increase its reach, with over 4‘000 followers on LinkedIn at the end of 2021. To make the content available for years, 18 of the videos produced in 2021 were added to the UZH Innovation Hub YouTube channel.
June: The first annual edition of the UZH Healthy Longevity Innovation Days.
Sept: The Falling Walls Lab Switzerland co-organized by UZH, ETH Zurich, ZHdK, ZHAW and Hirslanden Clinic.
OUTREACH
O U T R E A C H
1 ' 5 0 0 c o n t r i b u t i o n s . I n a d d i t i o n , t h e t o p i c w a s i n c l u d e d i n 1 4 a r t i c l e s f o r U Z H N e w s a n d t h e U Z H M a g a z i n e , s u p p l e m e n t e d b y t h r e e n e w " I n v e n t e d a t U Z H " s t o r i e s A m o n g a l l U Z H N e w s a r t i c l e s , 8 % f o c u s e d o n i n n o v a t i o n a c t i v i t i e s .
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is central to increasing the visibility of university innovation successes. The communication ab out success stories and role models of UZH innovation pro jects and startups serve to make the translation of research into the market more tangible. In 2021, UZH Communicati ons reported on innovation and entrepreneurship in a total of 14 UZH media releases, which achieved a national and international media response of more than 1‘500 contributi
I n c r e a s e d v i s i b i l i t y o f t h e i n n o v a t i o n a c t i v i t i e s s u p p o r t s U Z H I n n o v a t i o n H u b ' s g o a l o f c r e a t i n g a p o s i t i v e i n n o v a t i o n c u l t u r e a t t h e u n i v e r s i t y a n d h e l p s t o p o s i t i o n U Z H a s a n i n n o v a t i o n p l a y e r t o w a r d s e x t e r n a l p a r t n e r s i n S w i t z e r l a n d a n d a b r o a d
I n c r e a s e d v i s i b i l i t y o f t h e i n n o v a t i o n a c t i v i t i e s s u p p o r t s U Z H I n n o v a t i o n H u b ' s g o a l o f c r e a t i n g a p o s i t i v e i n n o v a t i o n c u l t u r e a t t h e u n i v e r s i t y a n d h e l p s t o p o s i t i o n U Z H a s a n i n n o v a t i o n p l a y e r t o w a r d s e x t e r n a l p a r t n e r s i n S w i t z e r l a n d a n d a b r o a d .
W a l l s l a b S w i t z e r l a n d c o o r g a n i s e d w i t h
„Innovation
Since its launch in 2019, the UZH Innovation Hub has seen growing interest in innovation topics, funding and trainings opportunities.
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Sept: UZH innovations are presented in an innovation parcour at the Scien tifica, a bi-yearly campus exhibit.
kein Zufall“
Nov: Virtual Startup Stories Event organized by UZH together with Startup Campus as part of the UZH Long Night of Careers. onnew18videosYoutube N o v : V i r t u a l S t a r t u p S t o r i e s E v e n t o r g a n i z e d t o g e t h e r w i t h S t a r t u p C a m p u s a s p a r t o f t h e U Z H L o n g N i g h t o f C a r e e r s N o v : B r e a k o u t s e s s i o n " I n n o v a t i o n i s t k e i n Z u f a l l " w i t h M a r i a O l i v a r e s , M i c h a e l S c h a e p m a n , J a n i n e R e i c h e n
S e p t : U Z H I n n o v a t i o n s a r e p r e s e n t e d i n a n i n n o v a t i o n p a r c o u r a t t h e FOR INNOVATION
Nov: Breakout session ist with Maria Olivares, Mi chael Schaepman, Janine Reichenbach, Jasmine Ho and Kerstin Vokinger at the 4th “Credit Suisse Unternehmerkongress”. b a c h , J a s m i n e H o a n d K e r s t i n V o k i n g e r a t t h e C r e d i t S u i s s e U n t e r n e h m e n s k o n g r e s s
S c i e n t i f i c a , a b i y e a r l y C a m p u s e x h i b i t . 2019 2020 2021 30 000 20 000 10 000 0 T h e U Z H I n n o v a t i o n H u b c o n f i r m s a g r o w i n g i n t e r e s t f o r i n n o v a t i o n t o p i c s , f u n d i n g a n d t r a i n i n g s o p p o r t u n i t i e s s i n c e i t s l a u n c h i n 2 0 1 9 . # v i s i t o r s o n W e b s i t e # f o l l o w e r s o n L i n k e d I n 1 8 n e w v i d e o s o n Y o u T u b e G R O W I N G I N T E R E S T F O R I N N O V A T I O N 21 GROWING ONLINE AND SOCIAL MEDIA INTEREST
The extend of innovation and entrepreneurship activities at UZH depend largely on the commitment from foundations and corporations that support the mission of the UZH Innovation Hub. We are grateful to have been able to work with motivated partners in 2021. Without their engagement, several activities and new initiatives of the UZH Innovation Hub would not have been possible.
DONORS AND SPONSORS
We thank all partners and look forward to future collaboration!
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