Prof. em. Dr. Fritz Fahrni

Fritz Fahrni was Professor for Technology Management and Entrepreneurship jointly at ETH Zurich and at University of St. Gallen (HSG) since October 1999. He chaired the Institute of Technology Management at the University of St. Gallen (ITEM-HSG). He retired end of September 2007.

He was born in Winterthur on September 7th, 1942. In 1966 he graduated in Mechanical Engineering from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, Zurich. He got his PhD from the Illinois Institute of Technology, Chicago in 1970. In 1980, he completed the International Senior Management Program at the Harvard Business School.

He worked as a scientific collaborator for NASA in the USA and for Ciba-Geigy-Photochemistry in Fribourg and UK. In Nov. 1976 he joined Sulzer. Within Sulzer he held managerial positions in the gas turbine department as well as in the textile machinery division. From 1988 until 1999 he was President and Chief Executive Officer of Sulzer Corporation. Under his leadership, Sulzer changed from a traditional machinery manufacturer into an internationally successful technology corporation with a new focus in medical engineering.

His research activities were in technology management, especially in quality- & innovation management as well as in entrepreneurship & venturing.

Today, he is Chairman of the Board of u-blox Ltd. (Thalwil), an ETHZ - spin-off, now an internationally successful growth company (quoted at the Swiss stock exchange) and of Insys Ltd. (Münsingen), a private hightech mechatronic company. Furthermore, he is a member of the Board of Directors of the private University Hospital Balgrist (Zürich) and an advisor for the Emerald Technology Venture Fund (Zürich).