In its Strategic Plan, the ETH Board has defined five Strategic Areas for the period 2025-2028. The Strategic Areas are topics of particular societal importance where the institutions of the ETH Domain can make a significant impact, on their own as well as in cooperation. They are: Human Health; Energy, Climate and Environmental Sustainability; Responsible Digital Transformation; Advanced Materials and Key Technologies; Engagement and Dialogue with Society. Besides these defined Strategic Areas, the ETH Board emphasizes the importance of fundamental discovery science as the cornerstone of all the ETH Domain institutions’ research activities.
What are Joint Initiatives?
Joint Initiatives have the explicit ambition to achieve a tangible impact on society and in addition must meet the following criteria:
- They relate to a Strategic Area of the ETH Domain for the years 2025-2028.
- They address the question: “How to best serve Switzerland?” when defining their contribution to one of the Strategic Areas and their longer term impact.
- They require a higher level of inter-institutional coordination and cooperation than an individual institution can bear alone to achieve excellence at the national and international level.
- They should lead to new institutionalised forms of collaboration within the ETH Domain and beyond, and be of national relevance (e.g. national platforms).
- They have a long-term horizon.
Joint Initiatives aim to harness the full power of ETH institutions to solve global challenges of today
With its numerous locations, the ETH Domain is firmly rooted in all regions of Switzerland. This is also reflected in the funded Joint Initiatives.
The complementary character of the ETH Domain institutions, together with their academic, industrial and governmental partners, generates powerful synergies. This opens the door to comprehensive and interdisciplinary approaches in research and education. ETH Zurich and EPFL are engaged in world-class and mostly fundamental research and research-based education, as well as in knowledge and technology transfer activities. The four research institutes – PSI, WSL, Empa and Eawag – focus on top-level thematic research long-term positioning of the ETH Domain and technology development. The six institutions cover the entire spectrum of activities from fundamental research and education to the application of new knowledge and technologies to meet societal and economic needs.
Through the instrument of the Joint Initiatives, the ETH Domain strengthens collaboration and exploits synergies between its various institutions. In addition, the Joint Initiatives not only help the institutions of the ETH Domain to work closely together, but also with various partners throughout Switzerland. By collaborating with the Swiss industry and the public sector, the Joint Initiatives contribute to addressing the most pressing national and global challenges through pioneering fundamental and applied research, while maintaining an ongoing dialogue with society.
The call for Joint Initiatives in the ETH Domain’s Strategic Areas of “Human Health”, “Responsible Digital Transformation” and “Advanced Materials and Key Technologies” had to be suspended for lack of sufficient financial resources. More Information here.