Research Collection Report ETH Zurich Annual Report 2008 Author(s): ETH Zurich Publication Date: 2009-04 Permanent Link: https://doi.org/10.3929/ethz-b-000299456 Rights / License: In Copyright - Non-Commercial Use Permitted This page was generated automatically upon download from the ETH Zurich Research Collection. For more information please consult the Terms of use. ETH Library ETH ZURICH Annual Report 2008 Title page: Students from the Department of Mechanical and Process Engineering demonstrate designs from their fields of work at the Value Lab in the “Branco Weiss Information Science Laboratory” on the Science City campus at ETH Zurich. ETH Zurich Annual Report 2008 Contents Foreword from the President 5 ETH Zurich – global connections 6 Executive Board – annual reports by its members 8 Research – for the good of society 20 Coated film kills bacteria 22 Energy strategies to counter climate change 24 Education – teaching tomorrow’s generation 26 Student projects with a practical application 28 Innovation and cooperation in teaching 30 Knowledge and technology transfer – cooperating for added value 32 Walt Disney at ETH Zurich 34 ETH spin-offs – high success rate 35 ETH Zurich Foundation – building for the future 38 Infrastructure – high-quality services 40 Cultural facilities – hidden treasures 46 Highlights 2008 – the year at a glance 48 Facts and figures – an attractive place for study and research 52 Donations 70 New professors 72 Honours for ETH staff 74 Honours at the ETH Day 2008 80 Organisational chart 82 List of abbreviations and imprint 83 3 4 ETH Zurich annual report 2008 Foreword from the President Sustainability: action is what counts Dear reader, I am delighted to present to you our new annual report. ETH Zurich has had another eventful year – with countless high points in research and teaching, growing student figures and a record number of newly established ETH spin-off companies. Important progress was also made with the “Excellence Scholarship & Opportunity” grants programme and several new partnerships with industry. I would especially like to highlight one issue that is close to my heart: sustainability. It’s easy to talk about this trendy concept aimed at long-lasting development, but achieving it involves a great deal of expense and effort. At ETH, sustainability must be at the core of all three of our main areas of business – in education, research, and putting the results into practice. Physically, sustain- ability means using closed materials cycles as far as possible, or else minimising the flow of materials. We need to do that if the soon to be ten billion people on our planet can all hope to enjoy a decent life in harmony with the environment. Making this vision of “sustainability” a reality requires not only the right attitude but also efficient technologies generating less waste. Well thought-through solutions are complex and entail far more than simple energy saving. I am very proud that our Science City campus is a model of a sustainable development. This is being achieved by consistent use of the technologies that are available today. ETH is also demonstrating its commitment to sustainability with a recently created coordination office designed to raise awareness of this topic among the university’s departments and competence centres. Ralph Eichler, President of ETH Zurich 5 ETH Zurich – global connections University of Copenhagen Chalmers University of Technology RWTH Aachen TU Delft University of Cambridge MIT Massachusetts Institute of Technology Boston (Swissnex) University of Oxford Yale University Imperial College London University of California, Berkeley ParisTech San Francisco (Swissnex) ETH Zurich ETH Zurich Ever since it was founded in 1855, ETH Zurich has stood for world-class scientific expertise, research for the good of industry and society and the training of highly skilled professionals. It is located right at the heart of Europe, in Switzerland’s largest city. ETH Zurich is a place of study, research and employment for over 20,000 people from 80 different countries. Its outstanding reputation is confirmed by the fact that there have been no fewer than 21 Nobel Prize Laureates who have studied, taught or carried out their research at ETH Zurich. 6 ETH Zurich annual report 2008 The University of Tokyo Tokyo (Leading House) AGS – Alliance for Global Sustainability Seoul (Leading House) – ETH Zurich – The University of Tokyo Shanghai (Swissnex) – MIT Massachusetts Institute of Beijing (Leading House) Technology National University of Singapore – Chalmers University of Technology Singapore (Swissnex) Bangalore (Swissnex) IARU – International Alliance of Research Universities – Australian National University – ETH Zurich – National University of Singapore – Peking University – University of California, Berkeley – University of Cambridge – University of Copenhagen – University of Oxford – The University of Tokyo – Yale University IDEA League – Imperial College London – TU Delft – ETH Zurich – RWTH Aachen – ParisTech Australian National University Swissnex – Bangalore, India – Boston, USA – San Francisco, USA – Shanghai – Singapore Leading House – Seoul – Tokyo – Beijing Some examples of the worldwide research contacts of ETH professorships 7 Executive Board For us, mutual trust is an essential prerequisite to good teaching, research and knowledge transfer. The ETH Zurich Executive Board From left to right: Prof. Dr. Roman Boutellier, Vice President Human Resources and Infrastructure Prof. Dr. Peter Chen, Vice President Research and Corporate Relations Prof. Dr. Heidi Wunderli-Allenspach, Rector of ETH Zurich Prof. Dr. Ralph Eichler, President of ETH Zurich Dr. Robert Perich, Vice President Finance and Controlling 8 9 Executive Board Knowledge keeps us in the lead President’s report ETH Zurich is famous for its research and highly in the past on third-party funding from private individuals and from industry. regarded as an institution for technical and The Executive Board has identified four main areas in which scientific higher education. Yet it is also valued growth is to be accelerated by the involvement of third par- as a driver of innovation in Switzerland. The ties. Three new professorships are planned for the initiative in the field of energy research and four for the expansion of transfer of knowledge from the university to medical technology. We would like to set up three addition- the worlds of business, society and politics is al professorial positions in integrative risk management one of the strategic goals of ETH Zurich – just as and also for the expansion of quantum science. important as its first-rate education, excellent fundamental research and the building up of Further increase in donations a strong international network of connections. During this reporting year, it was possible to meet at least a quarter of these additional requests with the help of the ETH Zurich Foundation. There was a very pleasing upward trend in donations to our institution, with income increas- ing once again in 2008 to 41 million francs (2007: 34 million In light of the global financial crisis, which has also hit the francs). A new series of events was initiated called “The ETH banking centre of Switzerland hard, special attention must President’s Conference”, aimed at raising interest in, and be paid to one sector of activity in our country, namely the understanding of, education and research at our university technology business. This is where competitiveness must among politicians and donors. be intensively promoted by innovation and high quality standards. The prospects are good. Student numbers in en- gineering and natural sciences are rising again, and increas- ingly our graduates are deciding to set up their own com- Under the new Organisation panies, so creating new jobs. ETH’s partnerships with business are also worthy of note. Ordinance, internal processes For example, in mid-2008, the IBM research laboratory in Zurich entered into a strategic partnership with our univer- are clearly defined. sity in the field of nanotechnology. The two partner institu- tions will run a joint nanotech laboratory that is being built The politicians and ETH Zurich together have decided that in Rüschlikon. Other partnerships have been agreed with the university should enter into a commitment in Basel and Walt Disney, Microsoft and many other companies. in Ticino. Despite initial difficulties, the Department of Bio- systems Science and Engineering (BSSE) was able to achieve a critical mass in Basel, following the move there by four Growth based on third-party funding professorships from Zurich. There are still to be a further four appointments made to Basel. At the Swiss National Su- In addition to its teaching, the great strength of ETH Zurich percomputing Centre (CSCS) in Manno, near Lugano, some lies in fundamental research – in established and new tech- important management positions were newly staffed. nologies alike. As an internationally recognised leading uni- Following a general consultation of the Swiss cantons, the versity, we are obliged by global competition, increasing Executive Board implemented a revision to the Organi- student numbers and the shortage of engineers to work for sation Ordinance in October 2008. Our intention was to continued growth. The aim is to create 80 new professor- define internal processes more clearly and assign each to ships in the next ten years. However, it is becoming appar- a particular member of the Executive Board. Especially note- ent that we