Antiviral textiles and vertical farming
ETH Zurich looks back on a very successful year for spin-offs: In 2020, 34 spin-offs were founded, with a striking proportion in the areas of AI and sustainability. Financing rounds totalling more than CHF 400 million and HeiQ's public listing bear witness to the market success of existing ETH spin-offs.
Sustainability plays an important role for the new ETH spin-offs, six companies are developing products or services in this area. Yasai, for example, focuses on sustainable vertical vegetable farming in Switzerland. Compared with conventional cultivation methods, this approach needs less floor space, just a fraction of the water, and no pesticides as the air can be filtered.
The founders are younger and more often female. Increasing numbers of ETH students are founding a spin-off straight after their Master's studies, demonstrating their business instinct for the market. Detlef Günther, Vice President for Research, attributes this development to the strong start-up ecosystem and internal support at ETH. The number of female founders at ETH has risen slightly in recent years: six spin-offs were co-founded by women in 2020. On January 1st, Vanessa Wood has taken over this area from Detlef Günther as the new Vice President for Knowledge Transfer and Corporate Relations. She hopes to be able to empower more women in future to bring their ideas to the business world.
Read the full article on ETH news
Contact/Links:
Dr. Marjan Kraak, Head of Spin-off Group, ETH transfer
further documentation «The Performance of Spin-off Companies at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich», release August 2020
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