ETH Zurich Foundation

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The ETH Zurich Foundation is an independent, non-profit Swiss foundation that supports teaching and research at ETH Zurich . It is not part of the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH Zurich), but has its own identity under private law and is managed by a board of trustees and an office. This foundation receives charitable donations from companies, other foundations and private individuals, including many ETH graduates ( alumni ).

Principles

  • Strategic projects and special talents at ETH Zurich are to be promoted.
  • The freedom of teaching, research and publications for sponsored persons and projects at ETH Zurich must be guaranteed.
  • Professorships, institutes or centers can be supported.
  • In the case of donations with a specific purpose, the school management of ETH Zurich must approve the project.
  • The trustworthiness of donations is checked using the relevant legislation.
  • An annual report explains the donations made and the financial situation of the foundation.
  • Funders who support a specific project are regularly informed about the relevant developments and results.

Working method

The Board of Trustees comprises 13 people (as of the end of 2019). He acts on a voluntary basis.

An office takes on the operational tasks. The team of 18 people headed by its managing director Donald Tillman is based in Zurich (as of April 2020).

The operating expenses are financed from the investment income from the assets under management. All funds granted to the ETH Zurich Foundation are used in full for the purpose of the funding. The audit is carried out by PricewaterhouseCoopers AG, Zurich.

activity

Examples of recently funded projects

  • Professorships for Innovative and Industrialized Building (Implenia), Data Science for Personalized Health (Wilhelm Schulthess Foundation), Robotics (Credit Suisse), Genome Biology (NOMIS Foundation + Lotte and Adolf Hotz-Sprenger Foundation), Deep Geothermal Energy and Center for Single Atom Electronics and -Photonics (Werner Siemens Foundation), Translational Neuromodeling (René and Susanne Braginsky Foundation), Sustainable Agro- Ecosystems (Sygenta), Sustainable Food Processing (Bühler Uzwil + Migros Industrial Companies ), Logistics Management (Kühne Foundation), Human Immunology (Helmut Horten Foundation), Biomolecular engineering (S. Leslie Misrock Foundation), Physical Activity and Health (Wilhelm Schulthess Foundation), power semiconductors (ABB), fluid dynamics (Sulzer), urban water systems (Albert Lück Foundation), cartilage engineering in regeneration and sports medicine ( FIFA), Integrative Risk Management (Swiss Re).
  • In 2019, the descendants of Donald C. Cooper, an Australian doctor, supported four professorships in the Decision Science Laboratory through a donation of 25 million Swiss francs through the ETH Foundation .
  • A more complete list of funded professorships will be updated by the ETH Foundation.
  • Pioneer Fellowships for budding young entrepreneurs.
  • Allocation of several Excellence Scholarships for Master’s students. The Meet the Talent event is held annually, at which the donors can meet the sponsored students.
  • Annual award of the Rössler Prize to young scientists since 2009. The award for research at ETH Zurich, which is the highest endowed with CHF 200,000, is made possible by a gift from ETH alumnus Max Rössler .
  • Establishment and operation of the Institute for Theoretical Studies at ETH Zurich (Alumni Martin Haefner (via Walter Haefner Foundation) and Max Rössler)
  • Support of the Zurich Heart flagship project of the University Medicine Zurich thanks to legacies not tied to a specific purpose (IMG Foundation, Baugarten Foundation, Schwyzer-Winiker Foundation)
  • Acquisition of a new cryo- electron microscope facility for researching biochemical processes (August von Finck family, NOMIS Foundation-Georg Heinrich Thyssen, Monique Dornonville de la Cour Foundation)
  • Fructose metabolism project funded by the Dr. Walter and Edith Fischli Fund .
  • Founding of the Wyss Translational Center Zurich made possible by alumnus Hansjörg Wyss .
  • The Werner Siemens Foundation will support the new Center for Digital Trust from 2020 . Together with the University of Bonn, ETH Zurich wants to develop a new security architecture for the Internet.

Annual reports of the foundation

For 2019, a total of 118 million Swiss francs were newly entrusted to the foundation in donations and legacies. Of these, 29% come from over 3,000 private individuals, 29% from companies and 42% from other foundations and organizations. At the end of 2019, the total assets of the foundation amounted to 553 million Swiss francs.

In contrast to certain foreign research institutes such as the Fraunhofer societies in Germany and private US universities, the funds from the ETH Foundation only make up a very small part of the total budget of ETH Zurich.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Code of Conduct of the ETH Foundation. ETH Zurich Foundation website, accessed on March 26, 2019
  2. ↑ Board of Trustees of the ETH Foundation. ETH Zurich Foundation website, accessed on April 24, 2020
  3. ↑ Office team. ETH Zurich Foundation website, accessed on April 24, 2020
  4. ^ Nomis Foundation .
  5. ^ Lotte and Adolf Hotz-Sprenger Foundation.
  6. ^ Braginsky Foundation.
  7. ↑ It doesn't have to be insects. NZZ, April 28, 2017, accessed on March 26, 2019
  8. ↑ Funded professorships. ETH Foundation, accessed on April 13, 2019.
  9. ^ Institute for Theoretical Studies. ETH Zurich website, accessed on March 26, 2019
  10. ↑ Donation to ETH and the University of Zurich . Radio SRF Aktuell, December 12, 2014
  11. ↑ Annual report 2019: Important impulses for research and teaching. ETH Zurich Foundation website, accessed on April 24, 2020
  12. ↑ Annual report 2019. Website of the ETH Zurich Foundation, accessed on April 24, 2020
  13. ↑ Private money at universities: Great untapped potential. economiesuisse, April 12, 2018, accessed on March 26, 2019