{"id":49800,"date":"2024-12-06T06:50:47","date_gmt":"2024-12-06T05:50:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ethrat.ch\/?page_id=49800"},"modified":"2025-04-10T15:40:49","modified_gmt":"2025-04-10T13:40:49","slug":"the-background-to-organisational-development","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/ethrat.ch\/en\/eth-domain\/the-background-to-organisational-development\/","title":{"rendered":"Background to the organisational development"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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Background to the organisational development<\/h1>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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Fit for the future \u2013 from industrialisation to the digitalisation age<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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The Polytechnic School that is now ETH Zurich was founded in 1855 for the purpose of training engineers for Switzerland in areas such as road, railway and bridge construction, as well as industrial chemistry. Today we find ourselves in the age of digitalisation, and the dominant themes include artificial intelligence, data science and cybersecurity. They, too, call for teaching and research to ensure that Switzerland is able to meet these challenges in the competitive global environment.<\/p>\n

The structure of the ETH Domain has continually evolved over time, and the current organisation has proven effective in many ways. The institutions ETH Zurich, EPFL, PSI, WSL, Empa and Eawag are working well and successfully developing their portfolios within their mandated areas of activity. The different raisons d\u2019\u00eatre of the two Federal Institutes and four research institutes, which complement each other, enable the ETH Domain to cover a wide range of activities in research, teaching, and knowledge and technology transfer.<\/p>\n

They create added value: the ETH Domain as a whole is more than the sum of its individual parts or institutions. With their presence in 13 cantons, the institutions of the ETH Domain \u2013 whose names and brands are well known and highly appreciated \u2013 also make a decisive contribution to regional development in Switzerland.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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New global challenges call for new ways of collaborating<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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Some areas have considerable room for improvement, however. While the current tasks remain as relevant as ever, new topics and challenges are arising at increasingly shorter intervals. These also need to be addressed, whether under favourable financial circumstances or under the difficult ones currently prevailing. Dealing with the increasingly complex global challenges (such as digitalisation, climate change, energy, health and cybersecurity) calls for interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary approaches. It is necessary to simplify processes in order to make them more efficient.<\/p>\n

Cooperation across institutional boundaries involves administrative costs and coordination effort, and the ETH Board has also identified a lack of structural flexibility. It is difficult to integrate new task-focused units or departments for new areas (e.g. digitalisation) if these are not defined in the existing research institutes\u2019 current portfolio of tasks and activities. Another challenge is the strategic coordination of the six institutions\u2019 activity portfolios in order to make the greatest overall impact on society (e.g. coordination of research and development in the area of energy).<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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Strategy forms the basis for the optimum organisation and structure<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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The\u00a0Strategic Plan 2025\u20132028<\/a>, published in June 2022, was used as the basis for discussing the organisational development and structure of the ETH Domain. In it, the ETH Board defines five Strategic Areas that it is focusing on in the quest to remain internationally competitive and respond to the most important global challenges. A set of measures were identified in the context of the Domain\u2019s core tasks and key transversal tasks in order to continue achieving excellence in education, research, and knowledge and technology transfer.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/i><\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/i><\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tThe five Strategic Areas are:<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t

Human Health
<\/strong>The institutions of the ETH Domain institutions should build on their expertise and existing competencies in the fields of epidemiology, personalised health, molecular biology, neurosciences, environmental and agricultural sciences, and information sciences.<\/p>\n

Energy, Climate and Environmental Sustainability
<\/strong>The ETH Domain aims to address the challenges associated with the energy transition, climate change and the impact of anthropogenic resource and energy consumption on the environment. The ETH Domain institutions intend to focus their efforts along three axes: energy transition; net zero emissions; and biodiversity, climate change, and sustainable construction, mobility and land use.<\/p>\n

Responsible Digital Transformation<\/strong>
This Strategic Area seeks to put technological advances linked to digitalisation into a broader context. The development and deployment of state-of-the-art algorithms for machine learning and artificial intelligence are to be expanded, especially in the areas of energy and transportation, the building and infrastructure sector, agriculture, environmental monitoring and health. This will involve data science, software engineering, image processing, computer architecture, computer networking, computer graphics, and cryptography and security.<\/p>\n

Advanced Materials and Key Technologies
<\/strong>The ETH Domain aims to spearhead the development of advanced and sustainable materials. Data science, particularly artificial intelligence and machine learning, are of key importance here. They contribute to digital production and advanced manufacturing, and thus to Swiss industry generally. Another key aspect is quantum technology, which promises to revolutionise computing technology and sensor technology.<\/p>\n

Engagement and Dialogue with Society
<\/strong>The ETH Domain aims to foster a proactive and open dialogue with society, industry and politics. Such dialogue helps to translate research into concrete solutions and policies, promote science and research, and attract the younger generation into STEM fields.<\/p>\n

In addition,\u00a0basic research<\/strong>\u00a0is a cornerstone of all institutions of the ETH Domain and an essential element that encompasses all Strategic Areas.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t