Intermediate Evaluation 2015 of the ETH Domain Self-Assessment Report Intermediate Evaluation 2015 of the ETH Domain Self-Assessment Report Adopted by the ETH Board on December 11, 2014 Eidg. Forschungsanstalt für Wald, Schnee und Landschaft WSL Table of Contents Table of Contents Foreword by the President of the ETH Board 7 Introduction Evaluation Mandate and Structure of the Self-Assessment Report 11 Perspectives of the ETH Domain 12 Strengths 12 Weaknesses 14 Opportunities 15 Challenges and Threats 16 A The ETH Domain as a Driving Force for Innovation Introduction 21 Teaching 21 Research 22 Knowledge and Technology Transfer 22 A.1 Contribution to Innovation Performance 27 Assessment by the ETH Board 27 A.1.1 Background 28 A.1.2 Collaboration with Industry 28 A.1.3 Knowledge Transfer to the Public Sector and In-house Innovation 33 A.1.4 Fostering of Entrepreneurship and the Foundation of Spin-offs 35 A.1.5 Exploitation of Research Results 37 A.2 Freedom and Incentives for Curiosity-Driven Research 41 Assessment by the ETH Board 41 A.2.1 Funding for Curiosity-Driven Research at the ETH Domain Institutions 42 A.2.2 Funding Agencies 43 A.3 Contribution to the Creation of the Swiss Innovation Park 47 Assessment by the ETH Board 47 A.3.1 Background 48 A.3.2 Involvement of the ETH Domain 49 B National Position and International Competitiveness Introduction 53 Core Prerequisites 53 Science Policy 54 B.1 Impact of Science Policy 57 Assessment by the ETH Board 57 B.1.1 Academic Autonomy 58 B.1.2 Openness and Diversity 58 B.2 Cost-Intensive Research Infrastructures 63 Assessment by the ETH Board 63 B.2.1 Examples 64 B.2.2 Success Factors 66 B.3 Benefits for Switzerland 69 Assessment by the ETH Board 69 B.3.1 Social and Economic Benefit 70 B.3.2 Added Value of Existing ETH Domain Locations 71 4 Intermediate Evaluation 2015 Self-Assessment Report of the ETH Board Table of Contents C Federal and Higher Education Policy Introduction 75 C.1 Geographic Developments 79 Assessment by the ETH Board 79 C.1.1 Strengthening Existing Locations 81 C.1.2 EPFL Antennae Strategy 83 C.2 Long-term Development 89 Assessment by the ETH Board 89 C.2.1 Reasons for and Limits to Growth 90 C.2.2 Requirements 91 C.2.3 Novelty 91 C.3 Contributions to the Improvement of the Swiss Higher Education System 95 Assessment by the ETH Board 95 C.3.1 Core Contribution: World-class Research 96 C.3.2 Pioneering the Development of the Swiss Higher Education System 97 C.3.3 Other Contributions 97 C.4 Structure of Study Programs 101 Assessment by the ETH Board 101 C.4.1 Adequacy of Study Programs 102 C.4.2 Development and Evaluation of Curricula 102 C.4.3 Stakeholder Involvement 103 C.4.4 Collaboration within Curricula 104 C.5 Cooperation 107 Assessment by the ETH Board 107 C.5.1 Individual Level 108 C.5.2 Institutional Level 108 C.5.3 Extent of Cooperation 109 D Medical Science and Medical Technology Introduction 113 D.1 Strategy in Medical Science and Technology 117 Assessment by the ETH Board 117 D.1.1 Translational Medical Research 118 D.1.2 Medical Technology 122 D.1.3 Cost-Intensive Research Infrastructures 123 D.2 Contribution to the Alleviation of Shortage of Medical Staff 127 Assessment by the ETH Board 127 D.2.1 Educational Efforts 128 D.2.2 Staff Shortage: The ETH Domain’s Possible Role 129 E Bibliometric Analysis E.1 Background and methodology 133 E.2 Results 134 E.2.1 Results for ETH Zurich 136 E.2.2 Results for EPFL 138 E.2.3 Results for PSI 140 E.2.4 Results for WSL 142 E.2.5 Results for Empa 144 E.2.6 Results for Eawag 146 E.3 Conclusions 148 Intermediate Evaluation 2015 Self-Assessment Report of the ETH Board 5 Table of Contents F Retrospective and Outlook F.1 Implementation of the Experts’ Recommendations of the 2010 Intermediate Evaluation 151 F.2 Executive Summary of the Strategic Planning 2017-2020 153 Appendices Appendix 1: Unique Features and Governance of the ETH Domain 159 The Unique Features of the ETH Domain (Alleinstellungsmerkmale) 159 Organisation and Governance of the ETH Domain 161 Appendix 2: Additional Material to Chapter A 165 Appendix 3: Additional Material to Chapter F.1 169 Statement of the ETH Board on the Implementation of the Experts’ Recommendations of the 2010 Intermediate Evaluation 169 6 Intermediate Evaluation 2015 Self-Assessment Report of the ETH Board Foreword Foreword by the President of the ETH Board “As a driving force for innovation, the ETH Domain wishes to strengthen Switzerland's long- term competitiveness through excellence in research, teaching and knowledge and technology transfer, and to contribute to the development of society. Acting as a beacon, it will seek to assume its share of global responsibility for tackling urgent social challenges, for improving quality of life and for the long-term preservation of the resources our lives depend on.” This is the Vision Statement of the ETH Domain, which has guided our two Federal Institutes of Technology and the four Research Institutes in the recent past and which has been redeter- mined by the ETH Board in the context of its Strategic Planning 2017-2020. It is precisely the key elements of this vision which are at the core of the mandate attributed to the international expert committee for the intermediate evaluation 2015 of the ETH Domain: its Terms of Reference deal with the role played by the ETH Domain institutions in higher education policy as well as in economic and innovation policy in Switzerland. They thus focus on the contributions of the ETH Domain to several crucial areas with regard to Switzerland’s prosperity and its sustainable development, namely their contributions to our country’s innovation capacity and to its world- class higher education system. In previous years, the intermediate evaluation focused primarily on scientific achievements. Evaluating the ETH Domain’s academic performance means moving on safe grounds: it is commonly recognized that the institutions of the ETH Domain have achieved a world-leading level both in research and in teaching. With its adapted focus, however, we see the current intermediate evaluation both as a challenge and as an opportunity. The challenge is to leave the above-mentioned safe grounds of a scientific evaluation with its proven methodology and its well-established criteria, and to take position, for instance, on various topics which are subject to discussions not only within the scientific community, but also in politics, the economy and the society as a whole. At the same time, this evaluation offers the opportunity to reflect on the manifold direct and indirect ways in which our institutions contribute to and strengthen the Swiss economy, the country's (higher) education system and its attractiveness as a center for science, innovation and technology. This entails the opportunity to benefit from the expert group’s recommendations upon which the ETH Domain will be able to further develop and to foster the leading role it intends to play. Recognizing these opportunities, the ETH Board has tackled the challenge most seriously. Together with the institutions of the ETH Domain and in a self-critical attitude, we identified and assessed for each of the Terms of Reference the relevant strengths and weaknesses, from which we derived a comprehensive analysis of middle- and long-term perspectives of the ETH Domain. Doing so, we are able to draw a differentiated picture of the ETH Domain’s successful work in the various fields addressed by the performance mandate of the Federal Council and of the ETH Domain’s contributions to the sciences, the economy and the society as a whole. The present Self-assessment report of the ETH Board has been established with this aim. In the name of the entire ETH Board I hope it will contribute to a thorough examination and critical review of the ETH Domain. We look forward to receiving the expert committee’s most valuable recommendations. Dr. iur. Fritz Schiesser Intermediate Evaluation 2015 Self-Assessment Report of the ETH Board 7 Introduction Evaluation Mandate and Structure of the Self-Assessment Report 11 Perspectives of the ETH Domain 12 Strengths 12 Weaknesses 14 Opportunities 15 Challenges and Threats 16 Introduction Introduction Evaluation Mandate and Structure of the Self-Assessment Report Evaluation Mandate The intermediate evaluation of the ETH Domain is part of the performance mandate of the Federal Council to the ETH Domain for the period 2013-2016. The performance mandate states: “The department will carry out an evaluation of the performance of the ETH Domain in mid-2015 for which it will draw on external experts. The ETH Board will state its position on the evaluation report. The evaluation report and the position of the ETH Board will form the interim report, which will be forwarded to the Federal Assembly together with the proposal for the next performance period (Art. 34a ETH Law).” Unlike in previous years, the 2015 intermediate evaluation shall not focus on the scientific achievements of the ETH Domain institutions. Rather, the evaluation mandate attributed to the expert group in charge states: “The expert report to be drawn up here should, in contrast, focus in particular on the role played by the ETH Domain institutions in higher education policy and economic and innovation policy in Switzerland. The experts are invited to assess perfor- mance in the current period (2013-2016) and, in addition, to consider how the ETH Domain can position itself and develop in the context of the coming changes.