HIC – for student and entrepreneurial initiatives of the future

In addition to its excellence in education, ETH Zurich offers its students the opportunity to participate in various student and entrepreneurial organisations and initiatives. If they are to make an important contribution to such an innovative and inspiring ecosystem, they need the right kind of space designed to meet their needs. The various organisations will be able to go about their work in an urban setting with the ideal infrastructure at their disposal and immediate proximity to students and important research institutions.  

Bringing together different organisations and initiatives
The new building, with offices, workshops, meeting and event rooms, and multipurpose and storage spaces, will bring organisations and initiatives together under one roof. Currently, they are spread out at different locations in central Zurich and the Hönggerberg campus. These include the VSETH and SOSETH students associations, the Student Project House and the entrepreneurial initiatives external pageETH Entrepreneur Clubcall_made, external pageETH Juniorscall_made, Pioneer Fellows, ETH Spin-Offs and ETH Entrepreneurship. The various user groups will benefit through synergies, sharing experiences – including between disciplines – and entering into new collaborations. This unique diversity, with the high dynamism of the various user groups, has the potential to make the «Centre for Students and Entrepreneurs» a creative and innovative hotspot at ETH Zurich and to raise the profile of the Hönggerberg campus beyond the city of Zurich.

Project stop and new start
In accordance with an Executive Board decision of 26 October 2023, ETH Zurich has stopped the previously planned project and has decided to launch a new project. «In the previous project, we were confronted with cost increases that led to a price per square metre that could not be justified for an ETH Zurich building with the intended use,» says Ulrich Weidmann, Vice President fir Infrastructure, who is in charge of buildings, summarising the situation that led to the Executive Board’s decision. With this in mind, the Executive Board has decided to stop the current project and has commissioned Weidmann to conduct a concept study to relaunch the endeavour. This will delay the project by about two years. The building is expected to be ready in 2030.

With the relaunch, ETH Zurich is fulfilling its responsibility and ensuring that the financial resources serve the purpose of the Centre for Students & Entrepreneurs: to create a place where students can realise their creative ideas and join together in entrepreneurial initiatives.