It’s a Friday evening when Stephan Fox and I speak on the phone and agree that we need to do something; sitting idly by has never been our thing. Maybe we can use the Feasibility Lab? We have just started it and it is figuratively still in its baby shoes. But since it pairs healthcare stake-holders with research-teams, its infrastructure is exactly what we need. Our little Lab will have to grow up fast. A little precociousness never hurt nobody…
It’s all included in the helpfulETH service
by Prof. Dr. Mirko Meboldt, Chair of Product Development & Engineering Design, 8 May 2020
Many existing research groups are affected by the crisis, while new ones have emerged because of it. As many of our regular activities were put on hold, we decided to turn crisis into opportunity to see just how much sharing knowledge can do!
An engineer is never at loss. Garden home office with excellent cable laying. (photo credit: Marc Widmer)
We set to work. We begin by asking hospitals for their needs, so that we can try to use our knowledge and our contacts to help them. Stephan and I excel at getting things going. We also excel at orderly chaos. This calls for a little more order. We decide to bring in another Stephan. When Stephan Wegner agrees to take on the role as project leader, we still have no name for our newborn initiative. An emergency baptism results in “helpfulETH”. The speed at which Stephan familiarizes himself with the idea and finds the perfect project lead partner in Eleonora Secchi is impressive. While I discuss with EPFL how to bring our initiative and theirs together, Stephan, Stephan and Eleonora now steer a project that grows by the hour. There is definitely not a lack of ideas and we pair up with other research institutions who have also embarked on a mission to help. Currently, we have ca. 13 ongoing projects.
And it is really them that this story is about. How the project teams learn and work their way through this time. The over 100 (!) volunteers, who take on challenges despite not knowing exactly what is coming their way, but agree to do what they can. Working remotely is interesting for everyone: some of us have never met in real life, but are getting to know each other as colleagues from behind our screens. Without the coffee breaks, small talk or team meetings that normally bring a group together, the volunteers have managed to set up highly competent, functioning project groups, bringing several solutions out to Swiss hospitals in a very short time! Since the nature of the pandemic partly is its volatility, the teams have had to face changing circumstances and needs. Even then, they have successfully managed to see projects stopped halfway in a positive light, realizing that every step towards making itself superfluous is in a way the purpose of this initiative. Even for the most routinized product developers and iteration-cyclers out there, keeping up a positive mindset like that is hard! I am really proud of the team for the way they keep an eye on their goal: to help healthcare as simply and quickly as possible. I am equally proud to see the energy and results that they achieve working towards that goal.
One of helpfulETH’s weekly town hall meetings. There are over 300 participants in our network by now. Here are some of us! (photo credit: Stephan Wegner)
More information
Visit helpfulETH online: https://helpful.ethz.ch/
The product development group Zürich can be found under: https://pdz.ethz.ch/
The Feasibility Lab can be found under: https://fl.ethz.ch/
The product development group Zürich can be found under: https://pdz.ethz.ch/
The Feasibility Lab can be found under: https://fl.ethz.ch/
helpfulETH has produced and shipped face shields to several hospitals within Switzerland. (photo credit: Marvin Breuch, Makerspace SPH)
My daily enlightenment when I speak to the team. (photo credit: Anna Ehgartner)
About the author
The thing that keeps me busiest at the moment is:
If I had been told two months ago that we at the ETH would develop, produce and deliver medical equipment to hospitals, I would have thought it impossible. And that we all do this from our home office and that my two children are at home because school and kindergarten are closed - I would have just shaken my head! But it all keeps you busy..!
My favourite app is: Spiegel Online
One book or movie I recommend: Bad Banks
And if all else fails, my instant pick-me-up is: Time with my family or a sporty hour on the lake helps to clear your head.
My favourite app is: Spiegel Online
One book or movie I recommend: Bad Banks
And if all else fails, my instant pick-me-up is: Time with my family or a sporty hour on the lake helps to clear your head.
