At the start of his first Annual Media Conference as ETH President, Ernst Hafen looked back at a highlight of the 2005 anniversary year: the highly successful “Worlds of Science” in the centre of Zurich, which attracted 250,000 visitors. He said a foundation stone had been laid here on which to anchor ETH science culture in Zurich. When the ETH year is reviewed in figures, it turns out that influx of students increased again in 2005: the total number of registered students was 12,750 (2004: 12,505). There was a slight decline in the number of spin-offs. Last year there were nine, whereas there were at least 10 in each of the five preceding years. On the other hand 2004’s record number of licence and technology transfer contracts (60) was equalled. ETH was able to make a distinct increase in its inflow of outside funding: from 160 million Swiss francs in 2004 to about 180 million in 2005; the proportion of female students remains unchanged at around 30 percent.

Zurich as a talent market

Next there was a look forward to a scenario of the Swiss science landscape in 2020. By then, according to Ernst Hafen, Switzerland will have become a world-renowned leading educational location. He sees ETH Zurich as the flag¬ship of a Switzerland that is determinedly opening up to the world, to technology and to science. Not only research but also teaching will be globalised by 2020. The international fame of Zurich will then rest no longer solely on the financ¬ial industry but on the region’s reputation as a stock market for talent that attracts brilliant brains from the whole world.

Hafen explained that the institute at which a person gained their master’s or doctoral degree would become increasingly important: “ETH has got what it takes to become No. 1 internationally among the science and technology institutes." In the course of this, many businesses would seek to be close to the Zurich educational institute location. He added that in the contest for the most talented, one should not underestimate the fact that Zurich regularly had the upper hand in the global ranking for quality of life.

Science City: the Sport Center as the next milestone

He said that the Science City development project would enhance the Institute with an attraction having international charisma. “Then you will find Zurich’s best Chinese restaurant on the Campus," the President prophesied. And he believed it would be managed by Chinese doctoral students. Guests would be shown the latest research results or even examples from the treasures of the ETH Collection of Prints and Drawings on video screens, and a Podcast service would provide news from ETH at any time – living and researching at ETH as an inspiring synthesis.

President Ernst Hafen at his first ETH Annual Media Conference, accompanied by Dimos Poulikakos, Vice President for Research (l.), and Gerhard Schmitt, Vice President for Planning and Logistics (r.). large

Gerhard Schmitt, Vice President for Planning and Logistics, added to this vision by announcing that the cutting of the first turf for the new Sports Center with a triple hall and seating for up to 1,000 would take place in the Science City in autumn 2006. Alongside the Information Science Laboratory currently under construction, this will place another milestone for the ETH Campus of the future. Moreover, entries will be invited in the summer for an international competition on the concept of integrated sustainability. The intention is for all the facets of this topic – construction, energy, travel and traffic, utilisation and financing – to bear fruit in an exemplary way in the Science City Project..

Short pathways as an advantage

With regard to the Swiss research landscape, Ernst Hafen mentioned an advantage which he said was utilised far too little in global scientific competition, namely the country’s compactness: “We think much too regionally.” He thinks much better use must be made of the fact that a large number of top-class educational institutes and research institutions are situated between Geneva and St. Gallen, Basel and Lugano at a few hours travelling distance. “The increasing complexity of research topics makes networks such as the SystemsX currently being created for systems biology absolutely essential.” He said the fact that there is much disarray in the support for research in surrounding countries such as Germany, France and Italy now gave Switzerland a favourable opportunity to take up an even better international position.

Education is an increasingly important raw material

To reach this goal, Ernst Hafen explained that he had set in motion the “ETH 2020” process at ETH, and outlined the fields to which this will pay special attention, with stimuli for research, teaching, technology transfer and financing. (1) It was absolutely essential to prevent a further cut in the Federal contribution. “We must convince the politicians that investments in education are what enable our country to advance.” The ETH President said that the fear the state could use an increased inflow of outside funding to ETH as an excuse to reduce its own contribution must not be allowed to become a reality. He quoted Singapore as an example, where under the slogan “matching funds” every dollar privately paid to public research was doubled by the state.