It was none other than ETH Zurich alumnus Albert Einstein who cut the red ribbon marking the inauguration of the ETH Zurich Campus Heilbronn. As President Joël Mesot jokingly said, “for good reason: he is ETH Zurich’s most famous alumnus named Albert, the second most famous being Federal Councillor Albert Rösti.” Rösti was sitting in the front row and represented the Swiss government at the inauguration event.

ETH Zurich looks forward to its collaboration at the Bildungscampus Heilbronn, marking the beginning of a shared journey towards responsible digital transformation.

I have had the privilege to be involved from the very beginning and to play my part in the Heilbronn endeavour in the background. For me personally, the official opening of the ETH Zurich Campus Heilbronn was deeply emotional, satisfying, and rewarding. For ETH Zurich, it marks a milestone in the institution’s history and will have a lasting impact in the coming decades—primarily on ETH Zurich, but also on Switzerland and Europe.

We have come a long way in a very short time. I vividly remember the day in early 2023 when Joël Mesot mentioned to me that he was close to signing a letter of intent with the Dieter Schwarz Foundation (DSS). Not only had I never heard of Heilbronn or of the Bildungscampus that has been developed there since 2010, but I also had no idea what this would mean for the future of ETH Zurich. I only sensed that a physical presence of ETH Zurich on the Bildungscampus Heilbronn—including professorships, research, education, and knowledge transfer, generously funded by the DSS—would have a profound impact on almost every aspect of ETH Zurich, both strategically and operationally.

As a first step, I assembled a working group with the aim of developing a detailed conceptual and operational plan for an ETH Zurich branch in Heilbronn, taking into account all strategic, legal, and communication-related aspects. Our priority was, on the one hand, to identify the issues that needed to be addressed in the short, medium, and long term, with a particular focus on governance and legal matters. On the other hand, knowing that the Bildungscampus Heilbronn was eagerly awaiting ETH Zurich’s arrival, we also identified measures to establish ETH Zurich’s presence in Heilbronn and raise its visibility there as quickly as possible.

Taking the moment of the inauguration of the ETH Zurich Campus Heilbronn as an opportunity to pause and reflect, I admire the courage ETH Zurich has shown in embarking on this journey. Almost everything we are doing, we are doing for the first time, or at least in such a context. There is no prior experience or blueprint we could draw from. And this is exactly what I see as the biggest opportunity for ETH Zurich in Heilbronn: we are not bound by preconceptions; instead, ETH Zurich has the opportunity and privilege to use Heilbronn as a sandbox—a place where we can try out new things and formats, explore, and play.

I am immensely proud of what ETH Zurich has achieved in Heilbronn—now and in the future.

In my role as Chief of Staff to the President, I have had the privilege of observing how ETH Zurich’s president, Joël Mesot, builds on and further develops the institution’s existing strengths. Step by step, this approach is helping to shape strategic directions that transform the university into a future-ready and resilient institution—one that is increasingly able to serve society in a world defined by growing complexity and uncertainty.

One illustrative example is ETH Zurich’s investment in the thematic area of space. At first glance, this may appear as a highly specialized scientific domain. Yet, on closer inspection, it becomes clear that space is not just a field of research — it is a strategic lens through which many of ETH Zurich’s ambitions come together.

There are four key reasons why this focus makes strategic sense:

• First, space is an environment where boundaries are continuously tested and extended. Each technological or scientific advance opens up new frontiers, while simultaneously deepening our understanding of Earth itself, from climate dynamics to planetary systems.

• Second, from an economic perspective, space stands out as a rapidly growing sector expected to sustain strong expansion over the coming decades. This growth is driven by innovation in satellite technology, the rise of data-driven applications, exploration, and emerging commercial models that increasingly position space as critical infrastructure for the global economy.

• Third, space missions and technologies demand an exceptional level of precision, reliability, and long-term robustness. While costs are undeniably significant, the real challenge lies elsewhere: in building systems that function flawlessly under extreme conditions over long periods of time. This engineering mindset closely aligns with Switzerland’s broader strengths in precision, quality, and reliability.

• Fourth, by developing strong capabilities in the space domain, ETH Zurich positions itself as an even more attractive destination for outstanding talent, from students to early-career researchers and established professors alike.

To translate this ambition into action, ETH Space serves as the key vehicle for implementation. It can be understood as a cross-cutting strategic platform that brings together research, education, entrepreneurship, industry collaboration, and science diplomacy. In doing so, it is closely aligned with ETH Zurich’s broader strategic framework and institutional priorities, and it enables their coordinated implementation in practice.

In particular, ETH Space strongly reinforces the priority of «Advancing and promoting the fundamentals», as space research naturally brings together fundamental science, advanced engineering, long time horizons, and high technological ambition. It also closely reflects the priority of «Mastering the continuous blurring of boundaries»—between engineering and science, academia and industry, civilian and governmental actors, as well as national and international collaboration.

ETH Space plays an important role in strengthening ETH Zurich’s international visibility and strategic positioning. It reinforces the university’s role in frontier science, European research ecosystems, and high-impact technological innovation. In this sense, ETH Space is not only an organisational structure, but also a strategic narrative: it helps articulate ETH Zurich’s ambition to contribute to solving grand challenges at a planetary scale.

In the coming months, we will publish a series of stories from colleagues at ETH Space, opening up their work and the exciting questions they are pursuing. Together, these perspectives will show how ETH Space contributes to ETH Zurich and beyond.  

Space invites us to rethink and to wonder. It is a perfect topic for public engagement, dialogue, and science communication, helping to make complex developments accessible and relevant to a broader public. ETH Zurich is seizing these opportunities, for example by launching wow², a new event that brings ETH Zurich and its research to life, and creates opportunities for direct encounters and conversations between researchers and visitors.

On 30 May 2026, wow² Space invites you on a journey into space: from lava tubes on the Moon to distant galaxies where stars are born and fade away — and back again to our blue planet, where satellites help us detect forest fires early, measure movements in the ice of the Alps, and even find our way to the nearest café. You can take a look behind the scenes of the missions that expand our understanding of space — and sharpen our view of Earth.

We warmly invite you to join us and rethink living!

Last week I was in New York to attend the opening of the ETH Alumni NY Chapter at the Swiss Consul General’s [Ambassador Francois Barras] residence and to prepare for an exciting event next year, in which ETH Zurich is heavily involved – but more on that later.

The obvious first: the American infrastructure is in a pitiful, even shocking state. The world has long known from the media that the whole of America is falling apart and is facing the Herculean task of renewing almost its entire infrastructure. But you only really become aware of this – sometimes in an almost painful way thanks to the potholes – when you take a cab ride through Manhattan. After all, it is one of the most expensive areas in the world with an extreme density of wealth.

The image of decaying American cities stands in stark contrast to Singapore, where our ETH architects and engineers are thinking about the “future cities” of this world and helping to plan and build them. Nevertheless, as attractive as some of the cities emerging from the drawing board may be, a city like New York is and remains much more exciting.

The event I mentioned earlier is taking place in New York in May 2014: the Zurich meets New Yorkfestival. For a week, the city of Zurich will present itself to the city of New York. Specifically, Zurich will have the opportunity to show the New York public how ideas that originated in Zurich [at ETH Zurich] have influenced the America of today. Did you know, for example, that the world’s first vegetarian restaurant, Hiltl, opened its doors in Zurich in 1898? Othmar Ammann, who studied civil engineering at the Polytechnic in Zurich at the time and moved to New York City in 1904 is probably better known. The honorary doctor from ETH Zurich designed the George Washington Bridge over the Hudson River and the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge which connects the New York boroughs of Staten Island and Brooklyn [Gateways to New York: Othmar H. Ammann and his Bridges]. As you would expect from a Swiss engineer, the George-Washington Bridge was completed six months ahead of schedule in 1931 and the budget was not exhausted.

When you present yourself in New York, you present yourself to the world. ETH Zurich wants to show New York, America, and the world what exciting and globally influential research has been done at our university. ETH Zurich will develop and build a temporary pavilion made of recycled materials especially for Zurich meets New York, thus giving the festival a face [this eventually did not happen in 2014 but was realized during the IDEAS CITY Festival a year later: ETH Zurich designers create arched pavilion out of upcycled beverage cartons]. Many events on topics from culture, science and society will take place in the pavilion and in locations across Manhattan. Among other things, Dieter Meier will perform with the band “Out of Chaos”, the Freitag brothers will present the history of their bags “made in Zurich“, and Zurich residents and New Yorkers will celebrate the 98th anniversary of the birth of the Dada movement in Zurich at a Dada Ball.

Of course, New York did not wait for Zurich and there is still a lot to do before the event opens its doors next year. New York City is successful, attractive, but also arrogant. The population of the five boroughs exceeds that of the whole of Switzerland. Attractive and important cultural and scientific events take place in dozens of locations every day. What was yesterday is forgotten today. But it is precisely these attributes and many more that make Zurich meets New York so interesting for ETH Zurich. Or as Liza Minelli and later Frank Sinatra aptly said and sang: “If you can make it there, you can make it anywhere”. To be heard and seen in New York, you must be loud, confident and, above all, good. ETH Zurich is undoubtedly excellent. We can prove that we are also loud and self-confident next year.

Who knows, perhaps the ideas presented in New York next May will help America to tackle the challenges posed by the country’s crumbling infrastructure intelligently and innovatively. And that “ideas born in Zurich” can still have a major influence on the Big Apple today.

Find out more about Zürich Meets New York 2014:

SRF Tagesschau report “Zürich zu Gast in New York” (German only)