"Innovation needs diversity" — Interview with Maria Olivares of the Innovation Hub at the University of Zürich
During the summer months, we ask people who stimulate the Swiss startup ecosystem to provide the Venturelab community with food for thought, inspiration, and recommendations. For this year's Summer Series, we’ll be interviewing personnel from the country's leading higher education institutions about the diverse and unique programs available to support rising entrepreneurs across Switzerland. This week, we speak to Maria Olivares of the Innovation Hub at the University of Zürich.
Name: Maria OlivaresJob title: Head of the Innovation Office and Executive Director of the UZH Innovation Hub
City: Zürich
What I do: I drive innovation and entrepreneurship forward at UZH by continuously contributing to the development of the UZH Innovation Hub and fostering a culture of innovation at the university.
How would you summarize the mission of the UZH Innovation Hub?
The UZH Innovation Hub unites and nurtures the UZH ecosystem of innovators and entrepreneurs by supporting people, programs, and initiatives across the campus. It serves as a connector and bridges students, researchers, and external partners together, thereby accelerating the development of new inventions, discoveries, and ideas. My team supports the transition from innovative research to societal impact. The ecosystem is driven forward by collaborations between ambitious UZH stakeholders, which include university entities, initiatives, research groups, committed researchers, motivated students, and engaged partners.
What are the main programs/resources offered by the UZH Innovation Hub?
Within the UZH Innovation Hub, four strategic clusters have been established to foster innovation in specific cross-cutting areas. These are Life Sciences, Space & Aviation, Digitalization, and Healthy Longevity. The clusters operate across the university and are strongly oriented towards interdisciplinary collaboration. Through partnerships with relevant stakeholders from business, industry, the public sector, and the startup scene, the innovation potential at UZH can be leveraged for translational activities.
With a focus on impact, diversity, and collaboration, the UZH Innovation Hub‘s offerings can be continuously expanded and optimized. Our goal is to provide complementary support instruments that foster innovation activities at various stages.
For example, we offer entrepreneurship education to students and young researchers that covers training in Digital Entrepreneurship, BioEntrepreneurship, and Social Entrepreneurship that is offered by various university entities, such as the Institute for Regenerative Medicine (IREM), the Department of Economics, and the UZH Innovation Office. Additional training is offered in partnership with external partners, such as the Innovators Camp (together wirh ZHdK and ETH Zürich). The courses convey know-how around business idea validation, market studies, IP protection, and competencies such as team building, ideation, and pitching.
Since 2021, two new formats of entrepreneurship education have supplemented the portfolio: the Minor in BioMed Entrepreneurship and the UZH Innovathon. In 2022, a pilot program that offers unique opportunities in science, industry, business, and the public sector was launched.
Furthermore, there are two successful funding instruments available for young researchers: The UZH Entrepreneur Fellowships provide funding of up to CHF 150,000, coaching, training, and lab facilities to young researchers who intend to start a company based on research conducted at UZH. This supports entrepreneurial scientists to accelerate the transfer of their research results into impactful solutions for society. In order to stimulate more translation activities in the area of digitalization research at UZH, the Digital Innovation Grants were newly launched last year and provide early-stage funding of CHF 10,000.
Advice and consulting for entrepreneurial scientists are provided by Unitectra, the Technology Transfer Office at the UZH. This provides support for commercialization issues, such as the protection of intellectual property and the creation of spin-off companies. The Therapy Development Accelerator (TDA) supports project management, business development, fundraising, and industry relations.
Lastly, startups and spinoffs have the possibility of applying for the UZH Startup Label.
Who are the people behind the UZH Innovation Hub? What makes you all excited about supporting entrepreneurs? The ecosystem is driven forward by ambitious UZH stakeholders, including university entities, initiatives, research groups, committed researchers, motivated students, and engaged partners, such as:
Cluster Leads: Four UZH professors, who drive I+E activities and initiatives forward in four strategic innovation areas together with an active cluster community.
Ambassadors: UZH faculty, who are engaged in I+E activities, initiatives, and programs and actively spread the word about UZH innovative performance.
The Innovation Office team is responsible for establishing and developing the UZH Innovation Hub strategically, conceptually, and operationally. It orchestrates the ecosystem by running demand-driven instruments and implementing structures to foster innovation and entrepreneurship at UZH. Amongst others, the Innovation Office offers entrepreneurship education, awards early-stage funding, supports the innovation clusters in their work, actively drives communities as well as partnerships, and further enhances the visibility of the university's innovative strength.
The team is fully committed with great energy, motivation, and joy to actively shaping the UZH Innovation Hub and supporting students and entrepreneurial scientists to bring their innovative ideas into practice.
How can startup founders best benefit from the support of the UZH Innovation Hub?
The successful implementation of innovative ideas requires skills, knowledge, infrastructure, a network, and advice, as well as capital and funding. For that reason, the UZH Innovation Hub has established its support portfolio along these crucial building blocks. The goal is to support researchers and students in various phases, from ideation to prototyping and the validation of an innovative idea with market potential to seed funding, with a diverse range of funding options. In addition, the targeted training of entrepreneurial thinking and behavior is intended to enable alternative career paths and empower talents for the future world of work.
Since 2017, UZH has awarded the "UZH Startup Label" to selected startups and spin-offs. With the label, UZH underpins its confidence in the newly founded company. It is intended to convey credibility to potential customers, external investors and partners.
In addition, the UZH Innovation Hub’s networks of coaches, mentors, supporters, and partners have been growing in recent years, which helps potential match-making between the various stakeholders.
Could you please share two or three success stories from UZH that you are especially proud of?
Muvon: Co-founder Deana Mohr participated in the Innovators Camp 2018, the BioEntrepreneur and Innovation Programm (BEI), received the UZH Entrepreneur Fellowship in 2019, was supported by the Therapy Development Accelerator (TDA), and joined the Wyss Zurich Accelerator. The startup was one of the Venture Leaders Medtech in 2021.
Recolony: Founder Anna Montaban received a UZH Entrepreneur Fellowship in 2021, won the international Falling Walls Lab Competition 2021 in the “Emerging Talents” category, joined the Wyss Zurich Accelerator in 2022, and is one of this year's Venture Leaders Biotech.
Cutiss: Co-founder Daniela Marino received a grant from the UZH Life Sciences Fund, won the TOP 100 Swiss Startup Award in 2020 and was listed among the top three startups in 2021, and was one of the Venture Leaders Biotech in 2018. The startup has completed several successful investment rounds.
EralCal: This startup received funding from the UZH Life Sciences Fund and won a UZH Fellowship in 2018.
ImmunOs Therapeutics: This startup completed a CHF 15 million Series A financing round and received funding from the UZH Life Sciences Fund in 2018.
There are also several mature spinoffs and success stories that have their roots at UZH such as Molecular Partners, Neurimmune, Qualysense, Hocoma, iniVataion, and many more. Additionally, four projects led and co-led by UZH were recently supported by the Digital Initiative of the Zurich Universities (DIZH) with CHF 16 million in funding for new, long-term innovation structures.
The success stories show that UZH's funding instruments are set up to support innovative projects over various stages, which allows UZH to cultivate a broad portfolio. The UZH Entrepreneurship Fellowship Programme is one of our most successful early-stage funding instruments to foster the transfer of cutting-edge science-based innovations. Entrepreneurial scientists, such as female founders, are important role models and inspire young researchers to choose an entrepreneurial path. UZH spinoffs are very successful in startup competitions, accelerators, and investment rounds.
What are the key strengths of UZH that make it a great place for entrepreneurs?
Innovation needs diversity. We know that innovation often happens at the interface of different disciplines. With UZH being Switzerland’s largest comprehensive university, we offer ideal conditions to advance innovative topics in an interdisciplinary manner: We bridge and connect manifold perspectives, we encourage cross-disciplinary collaboration through all our internal and external funding instruments, and cultivate a multidimensional innovation term. Internally and externally, we push cross-innovation activities with academic as well as with industry and business partners
Which fields of technology are the startups from UZH especially strong in?
At UZH, we believe in a broad definition of the term “innovation,” because science-driven innovation comprises more than just technology transfer. Innovation covers disciplines ranging from deeptech, biotech, medtech, and ICT to social innovations. The transfer of research, ideas, methods, and applications into practice to create societal impact is key.
Can you share a surprising moment observed during your work at UZH Innovation Hub and what you learned from it?
It is all about mixed teams. Complementing your team with competencies, skills, and know-how from various disciplines, backgrounds, nationalities, and gender are crucial. Unfortunately, too often entrepreneurial minds don't consider this early enough. To overcome such restraints most of the courses of the UZH Innovation Hub offered are university-wide, addressing all disciplines and the bachelor's, master's, and doctoral levels. In addition, the innovation clusters are designed as strategic areas composed of disciplines from different faculties to overcome siloed thinking.
Which book would you recommend as a must-read for any aspiring entrepreneur?
I suggest podcasts; there is one for every taste. Podcast hosts invite forward thinkers, innovators, game-changers, and creative minds for conversations about their passions, successes, and hurdles on the way to kicking off an innovative business idea.
I can recommend two: Swisspreneur by Alain Chuard and Christian Hirsig and People I (Mostly) Admire by Steven Levitt. What is a piece of key advice that you’d like to share with every new founder?
"Think Big!" If you want to be successful with your business idea, you have to think big. Founders should develop visionary ideas, redefine industries and use disruptive technologies. Have no fear of failure! Achieving big goals and making a difference only works with the right mindset. One's own motivation, knowledge of one's individual strengths, and the ability to learn from mistakes play an important role alongside entrepreneurial thinking. Be ready to pivot! Founders must remain flexible and agile because it is rarely the initial idea that brings success. Successful startup projects also rely on diversity, because the know-how of heterogeneously composed teams is crucial for establishing a business idea on the market sustainably and effectively.
Finally, what is your vision/prediction for the startup community in Switzerland?
The recent decision by the Swiss Federal Council to open its innovation policy with an Innovation Fund will strengthen the innovation ecosystem as a whole in the long term and complement existing innovation funding instruments. In particular, growth opportunities for innovative ventures might be improved, especially those in the scaling-up phase. There is a lower risk that startups will migrate abroad.
Anything else you’d like our readers to know?
If you are interested in partnering up, serving as a mentor, getting involved as a coach, applying for the startup label, or getting funding for a science-based business idea, then get in touch with us. Let’s work together and bring innovation to life! Check out our website and follow us on social media using #uzhinnovation.
Available support for UZH spin-offs:
UZH Innovation Hub
Venture Kick
Innosuisse Start-up Trainings
Connect with and follow the UZH Innovation Hub:
YouTube
Connect with and follow Venturelab:
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"You cannot do it alone" — Interview with Christian Elias Schneider of the Innovation Office at the University of Basel
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"Innovation is a people’s business" — Interview with Sebastien Hug of the Innovation Office at UNIBE
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"Linger on the idea" — Interview with Valeria Mozzetti Rohrseitz of the Knowledge and Technology Transfer at UNIFR
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"If not you, then who?" — Interview with Maria Luisa Fuchs of Startup@HSG at the University of St. Gallen
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"Find a problem to solve and get passionate about it" — Interview with Emanuele Laurenzi of ImpactLab FHNW
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"No matter what happens ... learn as much as possible" — Interview with Caroline Widmer of -Pulse at HES-SO Geneva
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"Don’t hesitate to pivot and adapt your idea" — Interview with Christian Hohmann of Smart-up HSLU
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