Eight Years of Service for ETH
The Vice President Knowledge Transfer and Corporate Relations, Vanessa Wood, will step down from the ETH Executive Board effective December 2025. She looks back at her leadership roles within ETH and on the successful establishment of the new Vice Presidency.
“After what will be in total eight years of service to the Institution, first as Department Head and then as Vice President, now is the right time for me to step down and focus on next steps” explains Vanessa Wood. “It has been a great honor to build up this new Vice Presidency and play a role in developing how ETH interacts with private and public partners, supports innovation and entrepreneurship, and engages with policymakers.”
Vanessa held these roles while continuing to lead her research team in the Department of Information Technology and Electrical Engineering and co-teach the most popular elective class. Her research using advanced x-ray, neutron, and electron imaging, diffraction, and spectroscopy techniques combined with multiscale simulation to study the fundamental properties of materials and devices – such as batteries, solar cells, and LEDs - is known internationally.
A brilliant first step in academic leadership
From 2018 through 2020, Vanessa served as Department Head of Information Technology and Electrical Engineering. During this time, she restructured and brought transparency to the department budget, which enabled a number of strategic initiatives and faculty hires. She also oversaw the build-up of programs which are now replicated ETH wide: the Center for Project Based Learning, which enables Bachelor students to engage in hands-on projects pitched by industry for academic credit, and a doctoral orientation program.
"She was a brilliant department head by all measures: successful in addressing strategic challenges; a constant problem solver for all of us, finding solutions to difficult problems and conflicts, and a leader with courage, determination, and great humor, instilling a general sense of collegiality and togetherness” remembers Prof. Klaas Enno Stephan, who served as deputy Department Head during Vanessa’s tenure.
Already then, Vanessa showed a commitment to interdepartmental initiatives and engagement, supporting for example the creation of Quantum Science and Engineering MSc program, and she was elected Speaker of Department Heads by her peers.
Successfully shaped a new Domain
Vanessa Wood has been Vice President for Knowledge Transfer and Corporate Relations since January 2021. She was the first to hold this newly established Vice Presidency, and over the last 4.5 years, she shaped knowledge transfer activities at ETH, strengthening the interactions between ETH and the public and private sector, the entrepreneurial ecosystem, and the interactions between ETH researchers and the policymakers.
“I first got to know Vanessa in her role as department head, and I am very pleased I chose her for this important role in the Executive Board. She has been a tremendous support for me and proven herself as a strategic and transformational leader with a clear and ambitious vision for ETH. It’s a pity to see Vanessa step down, but I’m proud of all that she has and will have accomplished for ETH and Switzerland,” says ETH President, Jo?l Mesot. “For this, I want to sincerely thank her.”
Vanessa worked intensively with the existing team in technology transfer as well as internal and external stakeholders to develop a strategy, based on which she put in place a new organizational structure, and assembled an impressive leadership team to support in executing the vision. “The team can be very proud of all that we have accomplished. I am also deeply grateful to the many collaborators and enablers within ETH Zürich and the community at large who have made this possible,” says Vanessa.
Support and offerings for industry and government partners
A key priority for Vanessa has been to simplify and strengthen research collaborations between ETH and the public and private sectors both in Switzerland and internationally. She created a new unit, Partnerships for Innovation, led by Jeaninne Pilloud, who brings extensive experience from senior leadership roles in industry to ETH. The team has successfully created an array of new collaboration modalities, programs, policies and digital tools to scale the number of collaborations between ETH researchers, students, and external partners.
This unit also led ETH’s involvement at the Innovation Park Zurich, which features new opportunities for co-located industry-university collaboration, student innovation, and entrepreneurship with a focus on “hard-tech” – technologies at the interface of hardware and software in sectors such as manufacturing, mobility & intelligent systems, clean tech, energy, or space systems.
Outside ETH, people have noticed a change. Valentin Vogt, former president of the Schweizerische Arbeitgeberverband says: "Vanessa quickly filled the new Domain at ETH with substance and set the important directions, and this parallel to leadership of her research group.” And Fabian Streiff, Head of the Office for Economy of Kanton Zurich adds, “ Vanessa understands how industry and the public administration wants to collaborate with ETH. Even from the outside, one clearly feels the change that she has brought about by the many fantastic initiatives she has introduced to enhance the collaboration.”
New Directions with Intellectual Property
“We have tremendously innovative faculty at ETH, so it’s important that we support them in making sure their discoveries and inventions are properly protected so that they can be used by industry or in spin-offs,” says Vanessa.
Under Vanessa’s leadership, a number of important milestones have been reached: a faculty-aligned open source software policy, an equity and licensing policy for ETH Spin-Offs, and more open IP policies in the context of industry collaboration.
Moving forward, Vanessa’s sees ETH embracing a multifaceted IP strategy and has also initiated the planning of education offerings for faculty and early career researchers to think strategically about IP. To execute this, she recruited Beat Weibel, former Senior Vice President IP at Siemens globally to lead ETH transfer, the licensing and technology transfer office of ETH.
Prof. Stefan Bechtold, Associate Vice President for IP Policy, says, “Vanessa has made tremendous strides in bringing ETH’s policies in the area of intellectual property forward, which brings substantial benefit for ETH’s industry partners and entrepreneurs. And, as a fellow ETH faculty member working closely with her in her role as Vice President, I see her as a tireless advocate for the needs of ETH students, staff, and professors.”
Strengthening the Entrepreneurship Ecosystem
Vanessa created ETH Entrepreneurship, the unit responsible for supporting future entrepreneurs and hired Frank Floessel, a serial entrepreneur with experience in Venture Capital, to lead the unit. Under the motto "Ideas – People – Capital", the unit strives to support members of ETH in developing their ideas into business, in finding and building the team needed for company success, and connecting entrepreneurial teams and ETH spin-offs to investors.
“Entrepreneurship at ETH happens decentrally within research groups and at centers. Our role is to make founding a company based on ETH research as easy as possible”, explains Vanessa. “To this end, we have put in place new standards, processes, and digital solutions and record keeping. Founders should be focused on building their team and launching their business, not cutting through red-tape at the university.” To recognize and support members of the ETH community, in particularly students, who often found companies not based on ETH research, the new Business Creation Regulations have introduced the concept of “ETH Start-up”.
This fall ETH Entrepreneurship will launch an accelerator to support recent ETH BSc and MSc graduates with their Startups. The accelerator will complement the existing ETH Deep Tech Pioneer Fellowship Incubation program, which focuses on supporting MSc and PhD researchers in bringing ETH technologies to market.
To support the build-up of successful teams, ETH Entrepreneurship created the Entrepreneurship Affiliates program, with Entrepreneurs and Experts in Residence to create a network of professionals looking to support ETH founders. Offering monthly “Ask-me-anything lunches” with seasoned entrepreneurs, a bootcamp for future founders, monthly events for founders in their first-year post-founding, and an annual homecoming event, ETH Entrepreneurship team has boosted the network and fostered the community.
ETH Investor Connect was created this year, which is a platform that connects qualified investors with ETH Spin-offs looking to fundraise, thereby leveling the playing field for investors seeking to engage with ETH and increasing the accessibility of capital for ETH Spin-offs. As part of the ETH-UBS Partnership, Vanessa also launched a Deeptech Investor Summit, which brings international thought leaders in deeptech investing to ETH to discuss current trends and showcases ETH Spin-Offs to over 400 Swiss and international venture capitalists who travel to ETH for the 2-day event.
Dr. Felix Mayer, co-founder and co-Chairman of the board of Directors of Sensirion, "Vanessa is extremely innovative, and a strong supporter of Swiss industry and the entrepreneurial ecosystem. I’m impressed by the changes she was able to bring about at ETH, which have positive impact for translating ETH research into society."
Encouraging Science-Policy Engagement
One of the new areas Vanessa was tasked to institutionally anchor is the support for researchers engaging at the interface with policymaking, particularly in science-based policy advice. Based on the work of an ETH-wide working group and external advisory board, she developed and enacted Guidelines on Science Policy Engagement and created the Science-Policy Interface, a unit that supports researchers and serves as an entry point for policymakers looking to connect to ETH and which is unique in the Swiss university landscape.
The Science-Policy Interface, led by Dr. Benedikt Knüsel, within the Domain Knowledge Transfer and Corporate Relations, offers workshops for researchers to learn how to engage with policymakers and also novel formats such as the ETH Policy Fellowships, which is offered in partnership with the Federal Office of Personnel or interested cantons. This program allows senior public sector employees the opportunity to spend a number of days at ETH over a period of 6 months. During this time, they follow an individually curated program, meeting with researchers and participating in workshops and events. By targeting senior public sector employees, the ETH Policy Fellowship leads to a multiplier effect for connections and insight and future collaborations.
To foster collaborative research, teaching, and engagement between scientists and engineers and experts in policy, governance, and ethics, she worked with faculty from numerous departments and topical areas to develop the concept for the School of Public Policy, which will be inaugurated later this year as an interdepartmental center with clusters in: digitalization and AI; environment, energy, and food systems; planning and built environments; public health, economy and innovation; and, peace, conflict, and security. To support the build-up of the School and ensure that its activities contribute to Switzerland and its positioning internationally, Vanessa helped recruit Walter Thurnherr, the former Federal Chancellor, to her team.
Strengthening of interdisciplinary Centers
In addition to driving forward the plans for the School of Public Policy, she fundamentally shaped how ETH approaches inter-departmental and interinstitutional activities, co-designing a new governance and funding structure for Centers so that ETH can effectively position itself at the forefront of research, education, and innovation in numerous interdisciplinary topic areas of societal relevance.
During her tenure as Vice President, Vanessa Wood has contributed to shaping many Centers at ETH, in particular leading the creation of ETH Zürich | Space. Since its founding in 2022, the faculty and staff have developed the first educational program in Switzerland focused on space systems, put in place an innovation hub to bring technologies from ETH and Swiss industry rapidly to the rapidly growing space industry, and, with the help of the Swiss Space Office, established a Project Hub, a structure to provide the engineering and data science personnel needed for ETH researchers to successfully participate in large scale space missions.
Prof. Thomas Zurbuchen, Director of ETH Zurich | Space, whose recruitment Vanessa supported, says: “Vanessa has been pivotal in shaping ETH Zurich | Space. With strategic vision, creativity, and a bias for action, she brought innovative solutions throughout. It’s been fun and inspiring to work with her—we’re deeply grateful for her leadership.”
What’s next?
“In 2023, we agreed as a unit on priorities to achieve by the end of 2025,” says Vanessa. “There is an incredible team in the Vice Presidency, who is committed to the exchange between ETH and our external partners and to supporting ETH researchers in maximizing the impact of their research. Now with a clear organizational structure, strategy, and seasoned leadership, I am confident that we’ll reach our goals in the coming months and the initiatives that we have started will flourish in the years to come.”